SIGNS OF REVOLT
Signs of Revolt: Creative Resistance and Social Movements since Seattle, Bash Studios, 65-71 Scrutton St, EC2A 4PJ. 6 November - 15 November 2009.
words : Leah Borromeo A new exhibition in London promises to deliver a comprehensive and thought-provoking display of activist and protest art over the past ten years. Signs of Revolt tells the story of the past decade’s social movements from the WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999 to the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. The show has collated documentary and narrative works from nearly two dozen artists, designers, journalists and performers from across the UK. Work from artists like David Gentlemen, Adbusters and kennardphillipps will be on display alongside the performances of the Rebel Clown Army and the Space Hijackers and the journalism of Jess Hurd, Guy Smallman and Reel News. Running from the 6th to the 15th November at the cavernous Bash Studios in London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood, curator Noel Douglas has also organised days of seminars and workshops where visitors can be entertained and interact with exhibitors. “With the upcoming Copenhagen demos and the 10th anniversary of Seattle, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to celebrate the creativity and rekindle the anger that sparked our movement and reflect on where we can go from here,” says Douglas. To aid your trip down activism’s memory lane, Douglas has collated graphic art in the form of posters, flyers, placards and graffiti. Enough stuff to make you think, “Hey, I remember that.” That is, if you ever went on a demonstration in the past ten years. Seattle 1999 has become a widely accepted benchmark for the beginning of what’s come to be known as the anti-globalisation movement. Disparate groups with concerns from war to workers’ rights to climate change came together in an angry, informed mob and declared that another world was possible (just what that world is remains a topic for debate). Thousands…millions marched in the streets of Prague, Nice, Gothenburg, Genoa. Anarchists, socialists, Christians, atheists, washed, unwashed. Demonstrations followed summits held by the EU, the WTO, the G8. The events of NineEleven didn’t so much end the anti-globalisation movement but gave it a focus… a large war or two waged in Afghanistan and Iraq…. Like the millions who took to the streets before that sunny September day that has referenced our daily lives, those who marched against the war knew in their heart of hearts that world leaders meeting behind closed doors wouldn’t listen to the voices shouting “No”. After the wars started, they knew leaders wouldn’t listen to the voices shouting “Stop”. But the voices kept shouting, and the signs and banners kept flowing through the streets. Cat Phillipps is one half of kennardphillipps, the collaborative unit responsible for one of the funniest and most pointed images of the decade: Tony Blair photographing himself on his mobile in front of an exploding oil field. “The sort of work we do fuses the creative process with protest,” says Cat. “It operates outside the establishment in an informal, conversational way. This show will introduce a new audience to what’s been going on by pushing activism, political engagement and social justice through art.” The press release for the exhibition says “Capitalism, war and climate change threaten our future. Signs of Revolt shows there are global forces emerging that can save it.” So can an exhibition featuring a load of lefties change the world? Probably not. What can actually be achieved? Tell me how long a piece of string is. But the show promises to offer a space to learn what fuels dissent, what drives the dissenters, and the breadth of creativity only a struggle can evoke.
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