Art as a Medium for ACTION by Art as a Medium for ACTION

Art as a Medium for

A C T I O N

Art as a Medium for

A C T I O N Foreword by Dr Jonas Tinius

Hoxton Arches

Cremer Street, London September 8th to 10th 2016

Chris Adams House

Pembroke College, Cambridge September 13th to 17th 2016

Editor Curator Assistant Curators Graphic Design Printed and bound by ISBN:

Gyunel Rustamova Cinthia Willaman Chris Townsend, Maria Sgarcitu Richard Shaw Langham Press 9780956321336 First published 2016

Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyright material in this book. Errors of omission will be corrected in subsequent editions. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the editors. The editor would like to thank the following: Juma A. A., Savino Cafagna, Nami Morris, and Mark Wormald at Pembroke College Cambridge, Mick Cafferkey at PandIS, Sue Coe, Amber Collinge at the Helen Bamber Foundation, Anne Cooper at Oxfam, FrancĂŠ Davies and Stan Finney at the AHA University of Cambridge, David Davis, Andrea Del Turco, Angela Glienicke and Fiona, Peter, and Kit Westlake at Greenpeace, Chris Hedges, Kirsty Henderson and Jennifer White at PETA, Josephine Lucas at Shelter, Galina Mardilovich, Kelly Mundy at Oxfam, John Oakes at OR Books, Corinne Pearlman at Myriad Editions, Jane Pickett at The Perseus Books, Joe Sacco, Mariella Salazar, Phil Simons at Langham Press, Rachel Rose Smith, Una, Jonathan Woolley, and our participants.

Foreword: The Charitable Relation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dr Jonas Tinius

Introduction

Interventions

8-9

Charities and the Culture of Celebrity

Case Study: Graphic Novels

Philanthropy and Trust

What can be done?

ACTION

Catalogue of Works

Charity Pledges

Biographies

Foreword: The Charitable Relation In the late 1990s, the French curator and art historian Nicolas Bourriaud elaborated a new theory to understand practices of political art, which had emerged in that decade. The works he sought to understand were ‘participatory’, ‘site-specific’, and ‘research-based’, dealing with questions about intersubjective encounters and ‘everyday sociality’. He termed this new form of art ‘relational aesthetics’. In his programmatic book Relational Aesthetics (1998), he defines ‘relational (art)’ as: A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space. (113) Relational art practices did not emerge out of a vacuum. They reacted to fundamental social changes in the late twentieth century. ‘These days’, Bourriaud writes in his book, ‘the social bond has turned into a standardised artefact’ (9). In Western capitalist society today, Bourriaud suggests, ‘human relations are no longer “directly experienced”’ (ibid.). For contemporary artists, he argues, ‘the most burning issue’ is whether ‘it is still possible to generate relationships with the world’ (ibid.). Bourriaud was therefore struck by a number of contemporary artists whose work tried to experiment with the ways in which we can relate, creating what he calls ‘hands-on utopias’ (ibid). These ‘everyday micro-utopias’ (31) constructed by relational artists differ notably from the avant-garde experiments of the 1960s and those efforts to imagine a different society. The utopias developed by political artists today, Bourriaud suggests, are no longer about grand revolutions in the world, but about a small4

scale and pragmatic ‘learning to inhabit the world in a better way’ (ibid.). Put in another way, ‘the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realities, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real, whatever the scale chosen by the artist’ (ibid.). Therefore, the ‘substrate’ of this new art ‘is formed by intersubjectivity’ (15). Intersubjectivity, in Bourriaud’s view, is not merely a means to an end. ‘Beingtogether’, ‘the “encounter” between beholder and picture’, or quite simply the ‘collective elaboration of meaning’ are the actual focus and telos of relational art practices today (ibid.). Relational art, he writes, ‘is a state of encounter’ (18). Relational art practices are seen to be different because they ‘tighten the space of relations’ (15-16); they are ‘moments of sociability’ (33). Bourriaud’s observations are political. Relational art practices are not just disengaged gatherings entirely devoid of critical reflection. According to him, ‘the first question we should ask ourselves when looking at a work of art is: Does it give me a chance to exist in front of it, or, on the contrary, does it deny me as a subject, refusing to consider the Other in its structure?’ (57). Bourriaud raises a fundamental political question about relational art, namely the extent to which it produces or inhibits relations between people, whether through actual encounters or imagined ties, such as through a charitable donation or an imagined community. This is important since participatory artforms can also produce very powerful forms of semantic oppression or fauxsocial cohesion, where one should engage in critical dialogue, or even ‘artificial hells’ of forced interaction, as Claire Bishop (2012) puts it. The moral obligation to give and charity events might appear in this light, too. What strikes Bourriaud in the work

of relational artists, however, is ‘first and foremost, the democratic concern that informs it’ (57): after all, one can choose to engage with a relational artwork, one can choose to give. He refers here to ‘the temporary collective form that [relational art] produces’ (61). This effect of art, for him, is produced through choice: ‘The aura of contemporary art is a free association’ (ibid.). The outline for a new art paradigm proposed in Relational Aesthetics has been subjected to numerous critiques from practitioners and scholars, most notably by Claire Bishop. She noted that the artistic practices described by Bourriaud insufficiently address ‘the divided and incomplete subject of today’ (2004: 79). She suggests that when we look at political art today, we ought to consider the kinds of relations they engender. Who is the subject or actor, and what kinds of encounters are produced through art today? If for contemporary artists ‘it seems more pressing to invent possible relations with our neighbours in the present than to bet on happier tomorrows’ (45), then how can the relations we cultivate through theatre meaningfully continue beyond a performance into the future?

neighbours or those we pass by in the street when, waiting for the bus, you read in red spray paint: ‘2 WOMEN WERE RAPED NEAR HERE MAY 9 MAY 21’? Lacy’s revisiting of the project in 2012, Three Weeks in January: End Rape in Los Angeles, takes this challenge to our perception of communities from the past into the present: no longer confined and filed as an archived art project long finished, her quest continues to confront the urban landscape and those that constitute its social fabric. Collaborating with the Los Angeles Police Department, she added reported rape cases to a map on a daily basis, reminding us of the pervasive and continued presence of community violence. Lacy’s work therefore picks up the important criticism raised by Claire Bishop: if relational art must also address the divided and incomplete subject of today rather than to celebrate happy moments of encounter, then she does clearly just that. Willie Baronet’s overwhelming and open-ended installation WE ARE ALL HOMELESS (1993-present) brings a second aspect of the exhibition to the fore: the charitable relation. Composed of over 1,200 bought homeless signs, Baronet plays on the relation between gift-giver and recipient.

The exhibition Art as a Medium for ACTION addresses these core questions and criticisms about relational aesthetics. Based on a research process and extensive interview preparation, the exhibition is as much reflection on, as it is a product of, encounters. Asking how art might inspire social or political transformations, the surveys and focus group meetings did not take the emotional reactions to artworks for granted, but allowed viewers to engage with them. If one of the fundamental questions of relational art is — ‘Does it give me a chance to exist in front of it, or, on the contrary, does it deny me as a subject, refusing to consider the Other in its structure?’ – then the process of audience-interaction, which took place prior to the exhibition, addressed just that. The works presented in the exhibition continue to ask the very challenging questions about the actual impact of artworks on communities, and also the form of artworks as communities. Suzanne Lacy’s pioneering performance art piece Three Weeks in May (1977), which documented and represented reported rape cases in Los Angeles, drawing statements on to the environment and urban landscape in which they took place, is a powerful challenge to our perception of communities. How do we see our

Willie Baronet with the signs he collected for WE ARE ALL HOMELESS, photographed by Ted Mase

By purchasing the signs, some of which were asking for gifts ranging from ‘anything’ or a ‘blessing’ to ‘a home’, sometimes offering ‘shitty advise’ [sic!] for $1, Baronet at once undermines and addresses the charitable relation of a gift. He offers a kind of remuneration for acquiring the signs, yet also clearly appropriates these calls for help, turning the very personal encounters with an individual into a nameless wall calling for help. Nonetheless, the viewer is implicated in the charitable mural, having to rethink his or her relation to acts of giving, to neighbours, to a community of exhibition-visitors. The most remarkable aspect of the exhibition, however, is yet to come. Art as a Medium for ACTION asks viewers for a pledge or a donation, thus extending the ‘micro-utopian’ community in the exhibition to a possible set of encounters and relations in an uncertain future. The relations it prompted people to reflect on in the first phase of the project, and the encounters it provoked and exhibited in the second stage, culminate in an actual act of giving. Yet, as an essay in this catalogue points out, gift-giving does not constitute a stable intersubjective relation; it is primarily an interaction. The more enduring and sustainable relation created is one of empathy. As the catalogue puts it, ‘part of the power of art … might lie in its ability to show us the things we ordinarily choose not to see; and feelings of guilt, empathy, and hopelessness might be the beginnings of renewed hopefulness’.

Dr Jonas Tinius

Alexander von Humboldt-funded postdoctoral research fellow Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Introduction

Art as a Medium for ACTION is part of an ongoing Relational art project that asks questions about how art might inspire social or political changes, and what those changes might look like. The exhibition places special emphasis on the links between art, activism, and charity work, and collaborators of the project include UK branches of major charities such as the Helen Bamber Foundation, Greenpeace, PETA, Oxfam, and Shelter. The project has developed across three stages. The first stage, prior to the exhibition itself, consisted of a series of surveys and focus groups investigating the power of images, videos, and other art objects to inspire social, political, and ethical change. Over 100 members of the public were interviewed, before a number of more intimate panel sessions took place. There was an emphasis on popular media, including graphic novels, music videos, and charity advertising. Participants discussed the form and content of the works, and were asked whether they felt the motivation to take action or make a change in their lives as a response to the pieces. And, if they were motivated to take action, what caused this change? Were participants inspired by the aesthetics of the works, or by their messages? Was there something in the works themselves that inspired change? And did celebrity endorsements contribute meaningfully to their responses? The second stage was the exhibition itself, which presented the results of the previous focus groups alongside new artistic works that designate, discuss, and dissect political and social issues. These included works by the renowned National Geographic activist Asher Jay, environmental artist Rachel Wooller, Hollywood designer and PETA activist Larry Torro, the artist and academic

Willie Baronet, visual and performance artist and academic Suzanne Lacy, and fashion designer Gyunel Rustamova. The exhibition aimed to put further pressure on the question of art’s relation to action and to activism, by bringing together within an intimate space a diverse range of artists and media that reflect on topics including climate change, domestic violence, animal welfare, and the current European refugee crisis. Visitors were led through a variety of displays, and they were invited to add comments around the works they saw, and to respond to and engage with the art in their own way. The audience’s participation in the exhibition constitutes the basis for the project’s third and final stage: that of action. Visitors were encouraged to make a pledge relating to a cause and charity of their choice. Given a token that represented a real financial donation made by the exhibition organisers to a charity, visitors could choose which cause to donate to. They were also invited to make a pledge of their own; to change their attitude, actions, or thinking in relation to their chosen cause. This final, interactive element of the project was designed to explore the divide between monetary donation and activism. Through the participation of its visitors, the final phase of the project Art as a Medium for ACTION was concerned with charity, action, and philanthropy that extended beyond the parameters of the gallery. It became the opportunity to reflect on the unique role of art in charity work, on art’s power to communicate social and political ideas, and, ultimately, the power of art to affect real change.

First Intervention: Public Surveys Ahead of this exhibition, members of the public answered survey questions on art and activism. Their views were collected in response to a variety of popular artworks, graphic novels, music videos, and charity advertisements — all of which focused on one of a number of distinct themes. Responses were greatly mixed. The majority of participants reacted strongly, and sometimes negatively, to images that explicitly presented violence, disfigurement, or death — including images of animals as well as humans — and some were openly offended by the more harrowing images they were shown. Others were drawn to the most shocking images in particular, and found in them important messages about the issues they presented. Many, though, focused on images that sidestepped the difficult reality of a situation, including the more whimsical — and less graphic — artworks.

Children sleeping on Mulberry Street Jacob A. Riis Museum of the City of New York ca. 1890

Melting Animal Sculpture Over 100 members of the public were interviewed on the streets of London and Cambridge

Takeshi Kawano 2015

Second Intervention: Focus Groups The results of these surveys informed a more intimate set of encounters — panel discussions, which centred around a more refined selection of artworks and creative productions. Participants were now given a fuller experience of the artworks, especially in the case of longform works such as graphic novels and charity videos. Discussion centred around both the form and content of the works, and participants were asked whether they felt motivated to take action or to make a change in their lives as a response to the pieces: And, if they were motivated to take action, what caused this change? Were they inspired by the aesthetics of the works, or by their messages? Was there something in the works themselves that inspired change? And did celebrity endorsements contribute meaningfully to their responses?

Gyunel in conversation with the London focus group

One key topic that kept resurfacing in the surveys and panel discussions was the role celebrities played in activism and charity work: ‘I think it’s great that celebrities use their influence to support good causes. As a young person, I’d definitely volunteer and use my creativeness to help third world countries’. Some were impressed by celebrity endorsement, while others were more cynical: ‘I worry this trivialises charity - it would be better to inform people rather than capitalise on celebrity’. There is clearly a complicated relationship between celebrity endorsement and the causes endorsed; even where individuals are encouraged to take action by celebrities, are they in fact concerned with the message or the messengers? Do celebrities promote real change, or only themselves?

Comic Relief agreed to permit the use of an image of Harry Styles for a fee, pending his agent’s approval; the agent declined the request

Charities and the Culture of Celebrity Some participants admitted to finding celebrities persuasive, even where the celebrity represented a cause that would not normally have concerned them. For example, one wrote of the song ‘Meat is Murder’ by The Smiths: ‘This video makes people feel guilty. I think Morrissey is such a charismatic figure that he gets away with it and still inspires people.’ Often though, acts taken to be more commercially than politically motivated were treated with immediate distrust, including the immensely popular band One Direction who featured in a Comic Relief video: ‘Not sure what to think. Hope I never have to see this again.’ It is also possible to play on this level of expectation. Lady Gaga’s video for ‘Til it Happens to You’ triggered many emotional responses from our panels, and largely positive feedback, precisely because its uncomfortable message came as unexpected from a well-known pop star. ‘Images’, wrote a panel member, ‘are far more upsetting than the form leads you to expect - makes them more shocking and upsetting because empathy seems to creep in unannounced.’ When it came to charity ads, some participants felt that having a famous person as the face of the campaign inspired trust and empathy. One, for instance, commented: ‘I think that having a famous actor in the video does actually help because it forces you to realise that this could happen to anyone, rather than simply ignoring the problem by anonymising it.’ Others, however, rejected the presence of the celebrity, considering it unnecessary and even offensive: ‘Why does this have to have a famous English woman in it for us to care? [...] The misogynist and xenophobic undertones of this really turn me off its message.’ 10

Save the Arctic Campaign in the London Underground Courtesy of David Sandison/Greenpeace 2015

The studio of the photographer Andy Gotts also declined to reproduce images used in Greenpeace’s campaign Save the Arctic. Greenpeace, though, were happy to permit the use of a photograph they commissioned of Gott’s image

Case Study: Graphic Novels During the initial questionnaire, participants rejected glossy campaign imagery. They also suggested there might be a general desensitisation to images of suffering, in part due to the oversaturation of such images in the media: ‘In a world full of shocking images one has to, and does, choose what one commits to engage with, and in this context I’m not attached to simplistic messages.’ Faced with similar images on a daily basis, participants found that, excepting only the most shocking examples, such images lacked in impact: ‘Well, for me it is a known fact, but I do not see any solution? Little annoying at some point - stating the obvious.’

began to think differently about the issues with which they were presented: ‘I feel saddened at the suffering. It illuminates the consequences of my consumption patterns, showing a side that is mostly hidden. It is convincing: it is not explicitly showing, but instead suggests the gruesome nature of the content, it is powerful and convincing. It would act as a catalyst to action.’

Most participants in the first focus group felt that the most effective works were those that combined relatable content, statistics, and a specific indication as to how action can be taken. When engaging with Una’s graphic novel Becoming Unbecoming, one participant wrote: ‘The mix of the personal with statistics and the general makes me want to take action more and is convincing, as it makes the issue both personally emotive whilst promoting collective accountability.’ The graphic novel was found to be particularly persuasive as it is not simply didactic, but opens up a dialogue with its reader: ‘It gives me more room to develop my own thinking in terms of the image rather than feeling something is pushed down my throat.’ In response to Sue Coe’s illustrated collection of essays Cruel, one participant felt ‘the shock factor can sometimes stun the viewer into silence. That said, such works can be moving, fear is powerful and helps you empathise with the animal’s fear.’ With graphic novels, and through powerful artwork such as Coe’s, many participants

Becoming Unbecoming Una 2015

Philanthropy and Trust A large focus of this project is charity, and the relation between charitable causes and their donors. Might there, for example, be a class-based culture of philanthropy? ‘There is game that is played when charities are courting the money of the wealthy; many want to give, they understand their privilege and social obligation, but at the same time they wouldn’t change their lifestyle or want to take action to make things better. Charities know this, but are still dependent on philanthropy.’ — Gyunel A question hovers over whether individuals give money because they want to, because they feel morally compelled to do so, or because there is a set of social expectations that forces their hands. And whilst it might be easy for wealthy donors to part with their money, it might be harder for them to change their behaviour and attitudes. Does authentic philanthropy end at the act of giving, or does it extend into an action, and the act of doing? Charity advertising campaigns aim to tap into, and broaden, this culture of giving. Some focus group participants felt satisfied that such adverts were doing their job if they themselves felt compelled to donate money. One wrote, in response to Save The Children’s campaign Still the Most Shocking Second a Day: ‘The video was a perfect mixture of subtle and direct. We see the entire journey of the child refugee, the things they had to do, the way they were treated. I get it. I have total empathy for the situation and I even know what to do: text the UK number and donate money.’ However, some felt that the invitation to donate was not enough, and that charities did not fully serve their causes unless they offered 12

a very clear description of how donations would generate social or political change. Even if they were compelled by the material and felt motivated to take action, some participants rejected the call for donations, as they felt it was heavily mediated by an institution they had no reason to trust: ‘Unfortunately the only action seems to be again give money to this faceless charity. I may act, but not in the suggested way.’ In the focus groups, participants wanted either transparency, and to be able to see how a charity creates change, or the knowledge necessary to create change for themselves, on an individual level.

The Reverend Canon Philippa Boardman, MBE, speaking to curator Cinthia Willaman

What can be done?

In the discussion groups, individuals frequently found a number of the artworks to be deeply moving, but they did not always feel sure how they might take action against the issues at hand. One respondent wrote of the book Cruel that ‘[i]t makes you feel guilty, but also quite hopeless.’ Another wrote: ‘While I empathise with the suffering, it doesn’t leave me knowing what to do about it.’ This raises a question about activist artworks: is it enough for such works to create a sense of empathy, or should they also direct, instruct, and inspire change? When interviewed in the streets, people were also alarmed and upset by some of the images included in this exhibition. Scenes of animal cruelty and of the current refugee crisis in particular elicited indignation, with multiple people asking why they were being shown unsettling and upsetting images.

‘And the flesh you so fancifully fry, Is not succulent, tasty or kind. It is death for no reason, And death for no reason is murder, And the calf that you carve with a smile Is murder.’ Meat is Murder

Morrissey and Johnny Marr 1985

Part of the power of art, though, might lie in its ability to show us the things we ordinarily choose not to see; and feelings of guilt, empathy, and hopelessness might be the beginnings of renewed hopefulness. One wrote of the song and video ‘Meat is Murder’: ‘Very, very upsetting — I would avoid watching this if it was my choice, but were it shown to me it would inspire action.’ The unflinching potential of popular media is precisely what gives these works the power to communicate so effectively and to grasp the attention of their audiences.

ACTION

In the issue of art’s relation to activism, there is, of course, a question of what meaningful ‘action’ might actually be. This is particularly pertinent to charity advertising. In some cases, it might be enough to donate money to a cause; this is the primary goal of an institution like Comic Relief, where raised awareness of a cause is only of secondary importance. But charitable organisations often come under scrutiny when they over-emphasise this monetary side of things; the Live Aid recordings and concerts have raised millions for poverty, but are frequently criticised for presenting a misleading picture of the African continent, and for perpetuating what has been called a ‘white saviour complex’. A participant wrote of a Comic Relief campaign: ‘Racist and culturally imperialist in its employment of African poverty as signal of white Western virtue’. Taking ‘action’, beyond simply donating money, might also mean donating the time to change our thinking, and to thereby make a change to society or to ourselves: ‘It’s important to accept that it’s not pointless if it doesn’t make you act because it can be as important that it opens up a space for thought and discourse.’ For Gyunel, grassroots activism is of as much significance as charitable donation, and the responsibility of charities extends beyond simply soliciting financial gifts. Similarly, focus group participants emphasised the power of artworks to influence thinking, and, therefore, to create the possibility of change in our behaviour. One wrote that ‘[t]his is an experience that I have not come face to face with. The graphic novel presented it in a way which changed the way I think about the issue.’

What is at stake here is the subtle relation of thinking and doing, the point at which awareness becomes action. By showing us how something really is, art can simultaneously begin to describe the way that things might be. Understanding and empathising with the world beyond ourselves might be the beginning of real change. This is the change that art, at its most powerful, makes possible.

Catalogue of Works

Willie Baronet

WE ARE ALL HOMELESS, 1993-present Mixed media

WE ARE ALL HOMELESS is both an artwork composed of over 1,200 bought homeless signs, and the ongoing project, for Baronet, of obtaining those signs, interacting with their creators, and engaging with people of all backgrounds. The piece has toured extensively, and Baronet has also produced a documentary film about the project, entitled Signs of Humanity. The work at once raises awareness of the very real problems of poverty and homelessness within western society, but also stands as testament to the possibility of dissolving class and social boundaries to recognise the universality of human experience. We are ‘all homeless’ in the sense that we all share the same fundamental dreams, desires, needs, and feelings — whether we have a roof over our heads or not.

Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, 2012 Graphic novel

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt brings together the celebrated illustrator Joe Sacco with the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Chris Hedges, and presents their view and analysis of America’s ‘sacrifice zones’ — the spaces in the United States given over to profit and economic progress before all else. The sparse prose and desolate images create a bleak portrait of those pockets of society where people and the natural world rank below the freedom of the marketplace, and where safety, security, and healthiness are words that apply more readily to the general economy than the local human population.

Asher Jay

Fallen Night Sky, 2012 Mixed media on canvas

Composed of a mixture of paints, inks, and marine debris collage work Fallen Night Sky presents a whale shark as it silently moves through the ocean’s dark depths. Only the shark’s markings are visible in the inky waters, and, as the title suggests, the animal appears as a constellation of highlights in the water, like stars against the night sky. However, the work has an underlying message about our own impact on natural life, and the retrieved debris in the painting indicate the elements of human culture that infiltrate even the most remote corners of the ocean. In the context of Jay’s larger project, the ‘fall’ of the title might be a warning of our own fall, and about a postlapsarian, post-consumer world.

Message in a Bottle, 2012 Mixed media

Created to commemorate World Oceans Day in June 2012, Message in a Bottle is an arrangement of post-consumer waste objects —bottles suspended from braided plastic bags — with illustrations that depict the wide variety of life found in the earth’s oceans. Each image is inspired by messages from over 200 individuals, including prominent activists, animal rights campaigners, and conservationists. By offsetting imagery of ocean-living creatures with the material objects that threaten such life, Jay’s work challenges us to consider the existential risks involved in mass-consumption, waste, and the culture of disposable commodities.

Suzanne Lacy

Three Weeks in May, 1977 Documentary film Performance 8 May - 24 May, 1977

Between May 8th and May 24th 1977, Lacy worked on the activist performance piece Three Weeks in May, which documented and represented reported rape cases in Los Angeles. Using two large scale maps of the city, Lacy stamped the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rapeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; over areas on one map where such crimes had been reported the previous day. She also visited those places in person, and painted messages on the floor, walls, and the surrounding area that called attention to the reported crimes. The work made explicit and public the awful reality of the prevalence of rape in the United States, and forced its viewers to reconceive of the geography of the city as a map of human suffering. By blurring the boundaries of art and activism, Lacy asks difficult questions about the culture of silence that surrounds sexual violence, and about the relationship between private horror and public life.

Suzanne Lacy

Three Weeks in January: End Rape in Los Angeles, 2012 Documentary film Performance 12 January - 27 January, 2012

Three Weeks in January saw Lacy revisit thirty-five years later her earlier performance project Three Weeks in May. Once again, a large-scale map of Los Angeles was erected, this time outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, and the previous day’s reported rape cases were added to the map on a daily basis. A series of performance events took place during the work’s run, along with a soundtrack of rape survivors and a social media campaign. Lacy’s focus was now broader, and reflected ongoing concerns in Los Angeles including the increase in reported rape cases on college campuses. By returning to her earlier work, Lacy was able to inquire into how social responses to sexual violence against women might have changed in over thirty years, and also how they had not.

Gyunel Rustamova Untitled, 2016 Mixed media

Gyunel presents a richly patterned rug, handwoven by her Azerbaijani grandmother Semengyul Huseynli. During the artist’s family’s displacement as a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war fought over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory in the early 1990s, Gyunel carried with her, amongst few material possessions, her grandmother’s rug. It has come to represent a narrative beyond itself, one concerning war and refugees, conflict and exile. Semengyul’s design depicts a story she herself composed for her grandchildren. Its connotations of childhood and innocence thus recall, for Gyunel, pre-war Azerbaijan, and it stands as a memorial to her youthful days spent in the city of Jebrayil. Just as weaving is a process of making order out of disordered elements, the rug represents the rediscovery of a sense of cultural identity out of the chaos of displacement and war.

Larry Torro

Who are you Wearing?, 2014 Oil and acrylic on canvas

Who are You Wearing? or The Skin Trade is Torro’s take on what he perceives to be the irrelevancy of the fur industry, and of the indifference towards animal ethics of celebrities and fashionistas who make fur a staple of their wardrobes. The provocative reversal of the roles of animal and human highlights the barbarism of fur in a display that is at once taken to be playful by some, and highly offensive by others. The shocking nature of the image revitalises our sense of shock at the concept of wearing fur — a concept with which we might otherwise be too familiar. The work was used by PETA in a 2014 campaign during New York Fashion Week, and the image, of a gargantuan fox adorned with a lifeless human body, has become a popular t-shirt design of Torro’s.

Una

Becoming Unbecoming, 2015 Graphic novel

Set in 1977, Becoming Unbecoming places the personal narrative of twelve-year-old Una against the backdrop of the story of Peter Sutcliffe and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yorkshire Ripperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; murders. It is a subtle, engaging exploration of the culture of blame and shame that surrounds violence against women. Una asks why victims of violence, including sexual violence, are so often the ones who are left feeling at fault, and why society can seem so ready to forgive, to forget, or to overlook those who commit such crimes.

Rachel Wooller Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Collaborate, 2016 Mixed media

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Collaborate is a cube of lard on a block of cut map paper. The lard acts as a symbol of the corrosive effects on the environment of consumer capitalism. The map paper and lard sit in harmony and proportion, but over time, as the lard heats and melts, the proportions change and the molten fat bleeds into the paper, rendering the map illegible. With evocations of the harmful consequences of the meat industry, as well as mass-market consumerism more generally, Woollerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work invites us to meditate on the effects of our diet and lifestyles on the landscape around us, and on the relationship we ourselves have with that landscape.

Charity Pledges Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org.uk

Help clean our air! Air pollution is dangerous and deadly. 40,000 lives were cut short by air pollution in the U.K. 10,000 of those deaths occurred in London alone. Greenpeace is campaigning to get politicians to act, but in the meantime there are a few steps that we can take to help make a difference: Every day For short, local journeys, opt to walk or cycle, instead of using fossilfuel-powered transport.

Helen Bamber Foundation

Every week For longer trips, use public transport or join a car-share scheme, ideally one with electric or hybrid vehicles.

Working with Survivors of Cruelty www.helenbamber.org.uk

World-changer If you need your own vehicle â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many of us do â&#x20AC;&#x201C; consider making the next one you buy a hybrid or fully electric model.

Treat with compassion and humanity those to whom you owe nothing When someone has had their dignity stripped away and their sense of self destroyed by acts of human cruelty, the simplest gesture of compassion and kindness can show them that they are not alone. Perform everyday the simple gestures that make lives more liveable.

Stand As One with people forced to flee

PETA

There are currently 65 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, disaster, violence and poverty. These are people like you and me who have often been torn away from their families and are struggling to survive. To save and protect lives, we need all governments around the world to act and take responsibility. You can stand with us and those forced to flee by pledging your support for the campaign by taking one or more of the following actions -

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals www.peta.org.uk

1. Join us to welcome refugees at a march in London on 17th September 2. Sign our petition ahead of the UN’s General Assembly in New York 3. Share content about the campaign on social media using the #standasone 4. Join our network to campaign and tackle poverty

To sign the petition online, join us at the march or for more information about the campaign, visit - www.oxfam.org.uk/stand or contact Kelly Mundy, kmundy@oxfam.org.uk or call 0161 234 2786

Take the vegan pledge!

Shelter

Some people go vegan after looking an animal in the eye and realising that there’s a ‘who’, not a ‘what’, looking back. Others avoid meat, eggs, and dairy foods to ditch unwanted pounds or because they want to help the environment. Whatever the reason, there’s never been a better time to cut the meat and other animal-derived products out of your diet.

The Housing and Homelessness Charity www.shelter.org.uk

Make a resolution that will save lives and leave you feeling better than ever before. Sign the pledge to try a vegan diet for the next 30 days. We’ll send you resources, recipes and tips every week to help you on your way.

Fix Renting

For too many people, renting is unsafe. Mice, mould and damp are far too common. One in six private rented homes in England contain a hazard that is a serious risk. But renters can’t easily challenge their landlord if the home they rent is in bad condition. The current law to protect renters is out of date. They are only protected from being rented an unfit home by their landlord when the annual rent is £52 or less, or £80 or less in London. Nobody’s rent is that low anymore. The new housing minister, Gavin Barwell, has an opportunity to make rented homes safer for all of us. He can do this by making it law so only homes which are genuinely fit for human habitation can be rented out by landlords. Please add your name to our petition.

Biographies Willie Baronet Willie Baronet is an artist and academic residing in Dallas, TX. He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with an MFA in Arts & Technology in 2011, and now holds the post of Stan Richards Professor in Creative Advertising at SMU Meadows School of the Arts. Since 1993 Willie has been working on the long-term project WE ARE ALL HOMELESS — a vast collection of bought homeless signs that aims to raise awareness of poverty and to build an empathetic bridge between those afflicted with homelessness and the public. The collection has toured extensively and has been widely-reviewed, and an UpWorthy video about the project has, in the past year, been viewed over 5.7 million times. Baronet is currently working on a documentary about the project entitled Signs of Humanity. WE ARE ALL HOMELESS was shown in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and was also displayed in concurrence with the Republican National Convention held in Cleveland.

Asher Jay Asher Jay is a National Geographic Creative Conservationist. Through both her forceful artworks and her capacity as an evocative public speaker, Jay strives to educate as well as empower her audiences. She is committed to a broad range of causes, embracing at once the human and animal worlds and our natural environment. Much of her best-known work focuses on the ivory trade, a theme which, in 2013, was vividly depicted on a gigantic billboard in New York’s Times Square. Her forthcoming projects will tackle biodiversity loss during the Anthropocene, with the goal of exposing current threats to the world’s most traded and endangered megafauna. Jay’s ultimate aim in the creation of her art is to speak directly to her audience, and to persuade her viewers that they hold the key to the future of mankind, the animal kingdom, and the natural world alike.

Suzanne Lacy Suzanne Lacy is a visual artist, writer, and academic based in Los Angeles, CA. She is best known for her performance works of the 1970s, which were produced as part of the emergent L.A.-based performance art movement of that brought together art and social engagement. She has written over seventy pieces of critical commentary, and her edited work, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, is now in its third edition. The project Auto on the Edge of Time (1993-1994) explores acts of domestic violence against women and children through images of wrecked and graffitied cars placed in public spaces. Recently, Lacy revisited a work of her own from 1977, Three Weeks in May, which addressed cases of reported rape in Los Angeles. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1993, and received the College Art Association Distinguished Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010. Her work The Crystal Quilt (1985-7), which now exists as videos, sound recordings, quilt, and photographs, is held in Tate Modernâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permanent collection.

Gyunel Rustamova Gyunel Rustamova is an artist and fashion designer from Baku, Azerbaijan. After graduating from the Azerbaijan State Economics University, she moved to the UK to pursue her education in fashion design, first at the London College of Fashion and then at Central Saint Martins University. In her South Kensington atelier, Gyunel transforms painted ideas into high fashion, producing, in addition to ready-wear, a couture line entirely in-house. She is increasingly interested in political activism, social justice, and public attitudes towards charity and charitable institutions.

Jonas Tinius Jonas Tinius is an anthropologist of art, museums, and theatre. His research explores contemporary artistic production in Germany and Europe with a focus on issues of German and European identity, political engagement, and the representation of alterity and diversity. From 2016-2020, Tinius is an Alexander von Humboldt-funded postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he also completed his PhD. He is the founding convenor of the Anthropologies of Arts Network and editor of Anthropology, Theatre, and Development: The Transformative Potential of Performance (Palgrave, 2015, with Alex Flynn) and ‘Micro-utopias: anthropological perspectives on art, creativity, and relationality’ (Journal of Art and Anthropology, 2016, with Ruy Blanes, Alex Flynn, and Maïté Maskens). More info: www.jonastinius.com

Larry Torro Larry Torro is an L.A.-based artist and activist. Torro began his career working for Warner Bros. Studios as an artist and set designer. He has since embarked on a solo career, and has produced artworks, logos, and merchandise for Disney, Universal Studios, M.G.M, and 20th Century Fox. He also designs and makes Halloween masks, including a now-famous mask of then-Senator Barack Obama, worn by Obama himself on Saturday Night Live. His masks are often commissioned by the entertainment industry to transform stunt doubles into exact likenesses of leading actors. Torro is well-known for his animal rights activism and for his paintings that depict reversals of scenes of animal cruelty: horses that ride cowboys, lions that stand proudly over slain hunters, seals poised ready to club diminutive humans. He works closely with PETA, producing artworks and promotional material for its campaigns, and his image of a bull preparing to execute a bullfighter features in Morrissey’s live shows during performances of the song ‘The Bullfighter Dies’.

Cinthia Willaman Cinthia Willaman is a curator, completing her doctorate in History of Art at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. She specialises in early twentieth-century European and Russian modernism, and holds a Master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art. In addition to her academic studies, Willaman works as a consultant and curator of modern and contemporary art, photography, and fashion. She has worked as a curator in San Francisco, London, and Paris. Willaman began collaborating with Gyunel in 2010 when she curated the exhibition Thirteen. Since then, she has curated Gyunel’s Couture AW13 presentation in Paris (2013), and assisted with her exhibition Living with Nature at the St. Pancras Hotel, London (2013).

Rachel Wooller Rachel Wooller was born in West Yorkshire in 1968. She went to Oxford to study English Literature before becoming a social worker in 1995. She discovered her passion for art in her mid-thirties – a life changing revelation that helped her make sense of her relationship with the world – and subsequently went to Norwich University of the Arts to study Fine Art, graduating with an MA with distinction. At Norwich, she worked on sculptural representations of memory and temporal space and developed her love of material juxtaposition. Wooller is now a Cambridge-based studio artist. She works with recycled wood and metal as well as concrete, acrylic, and wire. She is at work on a series of floor-based pieces that explore the power relations between materials.