^ PETER APPLETON- UTOPIA IMAGINED (2014)
A series of 10 paintings based on Utopia v Dystopia. They are narrow to reflect the linear nature of the journey and the narrow views expressed about the topics covered. Partially hidden in each painting is text making comment on the issue. The concept is to reflect back to the viewer comment on issues of the day that might be carrying us towards Dystopia - or not; the viewer must decide. The topics are; 1. Utopia - Wiessnichtwo 2. Politics - positive for politicians not people 3. Economics - a job is not meaningful work 4. Society - we rule, we fool, we control, we consume, we work 5. Crime - some rob to live some live to rob 6. Family - family values change 7. Religion - theological regimes 8. Nature - green cacoe'thes 9. Identity - re-education to conform to the dream of identity 10. Dystopia - Et in Arcadia Ego
This piece is a representation of how paper books are being ‘murdered’ by the new high-tech e-books, like Kindle, Nook and Kobo. Personally I feel that we should treasure all books, as they are an escape to another world, an expression of emotions, and a break from technology and social media. However, avoiding electronic devices is becoming more difficult, as a rapidly increasing number of people use e-books. I will always prefer the smell and the feel of the crisp paper in a new novel, as I anticipate the imaginative adventure I’ll find inside that warming cover. This contrasts with the cold feeling of metal or plastic. The swiping at a glass rectangle is harsh and fast compared to the calmness of the paper being gently turned. With a bright screen burning my eyes as I lay under the covers of my bed, I miss the nostalgic, soft, yellow light from the torch on the paper. And just to think, the next generation may not understand the strange pleasure of carrying our well-thumbed textbooks to the next class, or hunting down and reserving a hardback in that old, musty book shop down the road. My mum told me recently of a book she revisited, that hadn’t been read since 2003 when I was 4. Inside was a bookmark, a letter from me, written with crayons - an authentic human creation, which you wouldn’t find in the memory of a hard drive. The name of this piece was inspired by what actually happened when I tried to cut the bullet holes through the book with a crafting knife. My knife snagged on the corner of a page, so I peeled the paper back and saw that the word I had stopped on was in fact ‘love’. The same thing happened again, but this time for ‘care’. I was starting to get a little scared, and as I cut my last wound, the knife got stuck on ‘peace’. They were all accidents that showed happy words, thus ‘The Happy Accident’. This piece is dedicated to my Grandy, who I loved and admired very much. He always loved my art, and all the words that emerged from the pages remind me of him. Thank you Grandy for inspiring me and thus helping me with this art work. Harmony Atkinson is a Year 10 student at St. Hilda’s Church of England High School.
^ HARMONY ATKINSON- THE HAPPY ACCIDENT (2014)
I am a cartoonist/illustrator. My ‘Bestie’ greetings card range has been out since 1992. I also contribute regularly to Private Eye. Before this I taught Art and Art History at HMP Walton for eight years.
The series “Head as a house” investigates humanity’s obsession with knowledge and our ability to know everything. Whilst the Internet has delivered us the capacity to access all knowledge instantly the government has recently re-introduced the practice of exams to be sat all at once, thereby emphasizing the role of knowledge retention as the primary index of intelligence. This has been reflected in the way in which we act. Wondering around The 55th Venice Biennale for instance, viewers rushed from one exhibit and exhibition to another franticly recording information with their cameras; It became clear that the more information gained, the less open they are to see and experience what is in front of them. The drawings explore the relationship between knowledge and perception, how the mind memorizes and how that memory can inhibit perception. The microscopic marks record fragment memories of experiences, which for the viewer cannot fully be understood. Demonstrating how internally we cannot know ‘all knowledge’ as everyone has subjective experiences. Like all the knowledge in the universe and everything in the Biennale, we become overwhelmed and we can only focus on one aspect at once. As your eye drifts from mark to mark you quickly forget what you previously saw, mirroring the way in which we process information. The title references a quotation I came across among Eva Katakova installation asylum. The text was by a schizophrenic patient who described the interior of his head as a house; Similarly Alexander Luria wrote about the ‘technique of Loci’ a method to remember everything you encounter by encoding information by imagining your mind as a house. Each drawing maps a different memory, each being a different ‘room in my mind’.
^ INDIA CAWLEY GELLING- HEAD AS A HOUSE (2014)
^ ULYSSE DI MEGLIO - PEACEFUL END OF A PROTOEST (2010)
For more than nine months this year, millions of citizens were protesting against the pension reform wanted by Sarkozy’s government. During the demonstrations a lot of young people got attacked by troublemakers, suspected to be hired by the police itself, in order to ‘break the movement’. Tensions between protesters and the police forces also have caused many injuries. But in most of the demonstrations there was a peaceful and overwhelming feeling of unity, power and sometimes peace. This photo was shot during autumn 2010 in Paris, Place de la Nation, at the end of a massive protest. The unreal light is not due to tear gas this time but to smoke sticks, traditionally used by railway workers unions.
This piece represents how throughout history, those who have been weak or needy have been restricted by authority. Those in power took advantage of people who were in need of help, enslaving them metaphorically or literally. However, to me this painting represents the more specific problem of the disgusting manner in which the current conservative government are treating people with physical and mental disabilities. For example, the bedroom tax not only causes financial strains, but also puts those who are often already under high levels of stress under the anxiety of the possibility of losing their homes due to eviction, being unable to pay, or other circumstances. Even worse is the impact of Atos and their benefits assessments, which target the vulnerable. People are being put under such acute pressure and treated in such a way that there have been horrific consequences ranging from anxiety levels being raised, to human beings taking their own lives. But my piece is not only meant to convey the pain caused by these and similar issues, but show that all hope is never lost. Even when we are restricted by chains of anguish there is always hope, which I represent with a different kind of chain – daisy chains – replacing the crown of thorns and manacles. To surround ourselves with art, music and anything we are passionate about is something we will always be able to do, and is something that will set us free.
^ ELLA FRADGLEY- THE BENEFITS OF A PROTEST
Liverpool is a city with a distinct radical identity, informed by historical factors ranging from strong unionisation of dock workers to the more recent Families for Justice campaign. Tom George’s video piece draws on the personal testimonies of demonstrations and protesters from the city as well as the artist’s personal reflections on the changing nature of protest.
Taksim, Istanbul, 11.06.2013 This morning hundreds of police and water cannon vehicles marched into Taksim. There has been a peaceful environment for 10 days there. This morning at 7:30 people were still sleeping in their tents or having breakfast. When the police attacked with gas bombs a group of about 30 provocateurs who are NOT among us, NOT activists, NOT among the people who resist started attacking the police with Molotov cocktails. Curiously enough the Tomas (water cannon vehicles) that are able to push away and separate hundreds of people within seconds (as we have seen many times in the two weeks) could not get rid of this group of provocateurs for over an hour now. Why? This is all a planned game to be played in front of the international media. The resisting people are still peaceful; they do not throw stones or Molotov cocktails!!! This is a set up!"
^ NIKO GUIDO-UNTITLED (2013)
Johnson worked as a librarian for 38 years until 2011. Since that time he has been looking for interesting things to do. This has included volunteering for the Liverpool Biennial 2012. From that experience he helped set up a group that explores art through friendly and informal discussion, called Art Club, and has started to create art works. This is Johnson’s third publically displayed piece. He draws on the ideas of conceptual and contextual art. This is his second work to use coins as a primary medium. He asks “is this right?”
^ ANDY JOHNSON- IS THIS RIGHT (2013)
^ LIRIYA LEE- BUILDING THE FUTURE (2013)
Istanbul, 06/07/13 Everything started with people protesting against the government who wanted to destroy the trees in the only park “Gezi” in the centre of Istanbul, in order to build a shopping mall instead. It was a very peaceful protest and people only wanted to protect the last greenery left in the city centre. On May 31th 2013 which is 3 days after the beginning of the passive protests, following orders from Prime Minister Erdogan, police started to attack people with water cannons and excessive tear gas, setting off the most significant wave of protests in Turkey’s recent history. In a very short time hundreds became thousands and after a couple of days it spread to all other cities in Turkey. How could a park create a protest on such a large scale? There are several reasons: the allegations of fraud of current government election, its recruitment policies, (it is almost confirmed that there have been frauds in the general recruitment examination for being a state employee), and in the general recruitment of police and judges in Turkey. Other reasons are Government policies regarding abortion, curbs on alcohol, women’s role in social life and gender relations, controlling the media, jailing journalists, artists, writers, military generals, who are not part of the government’s ideology. The public is hopeless about its future, and fed up of this dictatorship. People do not trust the election system, the Parliament, the judiciary system, the media, the police, and people see the government as a threat regarding Turkey’s secularism. All of these reasons triggered people to go on the streets and in the end it spread all over Turkey. During the resistance one person died from gunshot, one was beaten to death and several from other forms of violence. Thousands of people were injured and amongst them 10 people permanently blinded by teargas canisters fired by the police. During the brutal police attacks, none of the TV channels showed what was really happening, instead, they showed documentaries about penguins, (penguins with gas masks became one of the many symbols of the resistance), or entertainment programmes, because the media was pressured by the government. My piece “Building the Future” is a selection of the photos that I’ve taken to create the public awareness of what was really happening when I went to Turkey to support the resistance. The photos show police violence, the reaction of people and protesters’ resistance, amongst them there are so many young protesters risking their life and by doing that actually building their own future.
This is a visual interpretation of my experience of having my own dog neutered and the associated behavioural change I saw in him (calmerless excitable, less erratic and less aggressive). The piece depicts David Cameron and Barrack Obama, heads atop dogs’ bodies, literally having their testicles surgically removed in order that the world can be a happier, less violent place without Western aggression. There are references in the background to current US/UK aggression (US drones, ominously looming overhead in formation reminiscent of Nazi Luftwaffe in the Blitz over London), and at bottom, Cameron’s Trident nuclear submarines, which he and his party are committed to replacing likefor-like at the end of their current life-span
Made in response to the presence of police ‘evidence gatherers’, collecting video surveillance information at a peaceful protest march in Liverpool on 05/02/2011 - despite no crime having been committed - and prophetic of recent revelations in the UK and around the world regarding oppressive police and state surveillance operations. Posted and displayed in and around Liverpool, UK.
^ WINSTON LUDD- NEUTERED (2013)
Kev Newbold spent 23 years in the Royal Air Force. Our country's Servicemen have no legal statutory right to protest nor attend protests. Nor can they join any Political Party. Volunteering for the Girl Giant Sea Odyssey and the Liverpool Biennial 2012 allowed an artistic seed to be sown and therefore an outlet to flourish with the creation of the Not Just Collective. Whilst in the RAF, and since leaving in the summer of 2013, Kev has used photography as a way of capturing the things that he finds stand out, and its not always the reason the protest is taking place. Do we lose sight of the point…… This set of images were taken on the streets of Liverpool over a period of a year from 2012-2013. Wandering amongst and around the protests, I was constantly drawn away from the point and onto other things, such as the Police deploying Horses to a protest by dinner ladies and hospital cleaners. Any public sector protest over cuts or pensions attracts riot vans and horses…are they such a threat? The Topman and Occupy Rallies attracted a variety of protesters, was such brazen use of illegal drugs in public a distraction from their cause?
^ KEV NEWBOLD-WHAT DO WE SEE IN A PROTEST? DO WE MISS THE POINT (2012-13)
The history of oppression is often the history of divide and conquer; an isolated group is easier to control. Resistance can be sometimes facilitated by sharing information and ideas. It seems to me that this was often done in the past by basic forms of print making, both in image and in text which could be repeatedly produced and shared to spread an idea. Such ideas may be subversive ones and there is a history of this. This set of work is a series called “The people said “No!” which is a set of small tributes to the revolutionary groups which exemplified our history of defiance and protest against injustice and greed. Shown here are prints for the Luddites, for the Diggers and for the Saboteurs. The language consciously references Soviet agit-prop images.
The work shown here regards the history of oppression LGBT people have recurrently faced by authorities often seeking to justify homophobia on religious grounds. Many LGBT people feel that they must decide between being gay and having a religious identity. In LGBT History Month I feel justified in reclaiming religious symbols to question this often extremely brutal and divisive oppression. In protest I will make pilgrimages to sites of LGBT importance, I will canonize who I chose as saints and I will commemorate martyrs and heroes like Harvey Milk, Peter Tatchel and Nikolay Alexeyev.
^ TONY O’CONNELL- THE PEOPLE SAID “NO!” (2014)
It’s Our War is a comment on the future of Britain’s artistic success being under threat. In the past year we have seen governments attempt to devalue the arts, but in doing so have encouraged artists and cultural enthusiasts to unite and remind society of the values art encourages. Since Michael Gove and the coalition government have set in place policies marginalising the arts and restricting access to arts courses to children, artists have stood up in a series of protests and debates showcasing how the expressive arts are crucial to our nation, identity and economy. In November 2013 Bob and Roberta Smith arranged the Art Party Conference in Scarborough, bringing together 1,200 art enthusiasts to discuss the future of art and the benefits it has on society. Following the conference Bob and Roberta Smith commented, “The arts make people powerful because art and design is about creating new desires…Art makes people powerful because art is about our freedom of expression.” After the Second World War, in the 1960s, it was dynamic developments in the economy, design and the arts that gave new groups power. It’s Our War is a reminder that creativity is pivotal to creating change, and reflects on the need for artists to unite and collaborate to strengthen the future of the arts in Britain.
^ BECKY PEACH- IT’S OUR WAR (2014)
On 10 November 2013, Pyotr Pavlensky, a Russian performance artist, sat naked for an hour and a half in Moscow’s Red Square with a nail driven through his scrotum into the ground before he was removed by police. He said the performance was a metaphor for “apathy, political indifference and fatalism in modern Russian society”. My piece *Beautiful Square, in homage to Pavlensky, shows a picture of his action, surrounded by pictures of other activists who have displayed their naked bodies during their protests, fixed to the square by single nails.
About the Artist Multidisciplinary Artist / Activist Motivated by a curious thirst for understanding social & environmental issues. Through presenting the work, the artist intends to interact with the audience to elevate conversation, mobilise action & discover more sustainable ways of restoring a healthy balance for people & planet. About the work On 2nd March 2014 I began a quest for knowledge to uncover more truth about events in Crimea. One week into my quest I bumped into a friend who happened to be mid conversation about Crimea with her friend who was from there. I listened to her speak for an hour in the street about her passionate objections about the British media subverting the messages and how unjust she felt this was. The knowledge exchange has led from there and the work continues. 1. Eternally Together Part 1 (March 2014) Audio Recording A chance recording of Liverpool Resident Elena Neydenova who moved from Crimea in 2002. 2. Eternally Together Part 2 (March 2014) Translated Letter Shared message from residents of Crimea, who have shared their views on the current situation. Translated by Crimean Elena Neydenova. 3. Blackstone (2014) Found Objects (Please Touch) This work invites a conversation about the impact of global financiers such as Jacob Rothschild, owner of Blackstone Group 4. RULE:OVER(2014) Blog – online global conversation http://ruleover.wordpress.com/ Curated information which reveals elements of perspectives around the ascension of Crimea to Russia in March 2014, and other related or similar geopolitical events.
^ STEPHANIE ROONEY- BLACKSTONE (2014)
^ NICOLA ROSCOE-CALVERT- SEEDS OF DISCORD (2014)
William Roscoe (1753-1831) was an historian, writer, and Member of Parliament. He was an outspoken supporter of the Abolition movement, a standpoint which caused slave traders in his native Liverpool to riot upon his return home from Parliament in London. Despite this opposition, Roscoe was described by William Wilberforce as, ““a man who by strength of character has risen above the deep-seated prejudices of his townspeople and eventually won their respect.” Roscoe’s best-known poetic work is probably the children’s poem The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast, but in 1787 and ’88 he published The Wrongs of Africa, a two-part poem condemning the slave trade. He asks those people capable of feeling empathy, the “generous few,” to follow in his footsteps, to see the horrific reality, and then ask themselves if they can live with it.
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Come then, ye generous few, whose hearts can feel For stranger sorrows; who can hear the voice Of misery breathe across th’Atlantic main, Diminish’d not by distance! Ye too come, Ye patrons of distress, beneath whose smile Exulting charity beholds with joy The numerous temples rising to her fame; Where age in peace reposes, where the young A safe asylum find; where sickness smiles, And hunger meets relief! Come, and with me Descend that floating dungeon’s dark recess, To air scarce pervious; where in numbers pil’d, And closely wedg’d within the scanty breadth Of calculated inches, pass their hours The victims of our avarice. William Roscoe, The Wrongs of Africa, 1787
“I’m going to write to my MP!” “But you haven’t got an MP Rick, you’re an anarchist.” “Ah, well, then I shall write to the lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen... Dear... Mister... Echo...” Having qualified as a teacher in 2010, Nicola Roscoe-Calvert finished university and found herself without a job. She says: “I never expected claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance to be easy, but I was in no way prepared for the incompetence and negative attitude that I faced, including: · being sworn at by Jobcentre Staff because I was a ‘thick student' · having paperwork lost on a number of occasions · being told several times that money had been paid out ‘this morning’ – a blatant lie, as the money did not arrive Eventually, not knowing what else to do, I wrote to my MP to complain about the way I had been treated. The replies I received from the parties involved were barely more than my own facts and figures quoted back at me, although my MP was apparently, “pleased to note than an apology has been made” (an apology sent to her rather than me). At the time I said that I might as well have written my letter on toilet paper and flushed it away.” This project takes a sarcastic and humorous look at an otherwise frustrating situation. The artist asked members of the public to write letters of complaint onto toilet rolls. These will later be installed in public toilets around Liverpool, where they may be read, they may be left alone, or they may be flushed away.
In 2013, Liverpool City Council proposed the sale of 6 acres of land on the edge of Sefton Park, known as the ‘Meadows.’ Under the original Sefton Park Scheme of 1867, the land was to be used to build several large villas, but this was never done. Over the years, there have been a number of development plans, none of which have been realised, and the Meadows have long been recognised by the public as one of Liverpool’s Green Spaces. In 1992, the City Planning Officer wrote, “The preferred future use of this site is still that it should remain as open space, as part of Sefton Park, a view echoed by English Heritage when originally consulted on the application.” Year 9 pupils from St. Hilda’s Church of England High School, also situated on the border of the park, were asked to respond to the ‘Save Sefton Park Meadows’ campaign. They wrote a poem which was then created in sculptural form, partly constructed from natural materials found in the park. I love my city But you are the jewel A space free and green A gift given to the children here We laugh, we run, we breathe You teach me with your seasons Awaken my curious eye Show me the beauty of each new day And every twinkling sky. If trees were uprooted and concrete laid I would forever mourn For once a jewel is plucked from its crown It cannot shine no more
^ ST. HILDA’S CHURCH OF ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS- A LOVE POEM(2014)
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KEVIN NEWBOLD