I saw Snoop Dogg at the 02 Arena a little while ago, loved it. But the place itself is still perplexing, as it was from day-one back when it was The Millennium Dome. One of Richard Roger’s many masterpieces but still seems like a building that know one knows quite what to do with. Its current incarnation looks like a ‘futuristic’ shopping mall in a big tent, which is sort of what it is, minus the shops. All blue neon lights and palm trees, sort of nearly almost Blade Runner’s vision of LA, but with out any of the glamour or excitement.
This James Ward article puts it really well – ‘…if humans ever colonised Mars, they’d end up building something like the O2 … there was a Harvester too: Why would anyone build a fucking Harvester on Mars? … the woman at the counter asked me if I wanted to “eat in” or “take away”. Where would I take it away too? I’m in a giant dome on Mars. Where would I go?’
