Democracy is being eroded everywhere, and the obsession that you have to belong to a 'group' eg gender politics pushing people into sides, seems to be fragmenting democracy rather than making it stronger.
Do you honestly think protests for women’s suffrage, worker’s movements and other protests in the early 20th century should be lumped together with NED funded artists like Ai Weiwei and defectors from Cuba? It seems to me like the former are going against Western colonial/imperialist powers, while the latter are doing the exact opposite. Is the art itself the only thing that matters? Or the cause and historic context behind it? I know you’re just looking at the art scene, but at least study the geopolitical history a bit more. Would UK be any freer than Cuba if the EU waged economic and actual warfare on it at the same level as the United States? Did HK have a lively art scene before the handover in 1997? Any protest art coming from the Falklands and other colonies? Finally, if political freedom is so essential to art and creativity, why keep all those Qing dynasty masterpieces at the British Museum? Do you think those art pieces from “Ancient China” are inferior to the oil paintings of semi-democratic UK made in the same time period?
Thanks for your comments, Jun Li. Sounds like you're perhaps speaking about different things to the subject I've written about. The point I was making in my article was about the dangers of political apathy and the easy slippage of rights in democratic countries if we aren't vigilant, active citizens. All the works by the artists I mentioned speak to this point.
This has really made me think a lot today. I watched Ai Weiwei's film. So moving. Unimaginable courage displayed by those young people fighting for their rights in the face of overwhelmingly crushing and brutal pressure from the authorities. It's hope and despair all in one. I do think that those mostly young people chaining themselves to gantries and slow walking down roads care enormously about their future in this world, and we need to pay more attention to their message rather than crushing them with the force of new laws designed specifically to 'deal' with them. They are telling us truths which we mostly don't want to hear.
That's it, hope and despair at the same time. It's a very moving film, for sure.
I understand all the complaints about the inconvenience of current protest tactics by environmental groups. Of course it's a pain in the arse. But we are facing a very dire future, and now it's about how we mitigate the worst effects of climate change. If anything is 'a threat to our way of life' (in Braverman's words) it's what's coming if we don't act now.
Your later focus on Ai Wei Wei’s documentary brings back my memories of the Umbrella Revolution almost 10 years ago now. It’s amazingly scary to me how many artists between the first protests and the more recent iterations have been silenced. Filmmakers and painters have moved away...the big music festival was conveniently cancelled during the pandemic then rebranded. Majority of art educators I know have also left or will leave soon.
It serves as a warning to us all. Sure, we can say it’s China, but I think you’re right to show the dangers even in London.
You were in HK during the Umbrella Revolution? This is sad news about the exodus of creatives from HK. In Cuba now artists need a special licence to exhibit art or perform, handed out by the Ministry of Culture. Tania Bruguera can't work in Cuba anymore. I wonder how long until the same happens in HK?
I agree, I think it will. Although China is clever and has made it so that artists self censor or self exile to avoid the possible repercussions. At this point, they're sort of random, so you just never know if you are next. I lived in HK from 2008-16 and you could feel 'this' coming after the initial 2014 protests. The slow inching in of civil liberties was designed, I believe, to avoid mass protest and achieve a frog in boiling water effect. And slow control of the universities, school curricula, etc made to change the way people think about identity. Anyway, I could go on, and it's so sad, but in terms of art, it was also interesting that during this time, the government was building the M+ museum where people worried they would further control identity with art. There is still a fine line in HK where Art Basel, for example, continues...and there is some freedom even at M+. I just hope that before it's too late, maybe the powers that be will decide that freedom is better for the economy or whatever they're after.
It's that slow erosion of rights that is so insidious isn't it. Exactly like the boiling frog, yes. I can't imagine Xi will give a monkeys about the HK economy. I do think it's HK, then Taiwan...
Nice job, and thanks for introducing me to Bruguera's work. I would like to emphasize, however, that "Art" and "Culture" are not intrinsic responses to the Police. "Art" and "Culture" ARE the Police, especially in Britain , and beginning with Matthew Arnold's classic "Culture and Anarchy" [1869], in which Arnold argues that "Culture" is the cure to popular demonstrations. He was referring to a riot that broke out when the Police tried to prevent a meeting in Hyde Park. I think we have to beware of "Protest Art" that co-opts protests themselves and make of them formal abstractions, i.e. protesting for protest's sake, not for redress of specific grievance.
Thanks for your comments, Paul, although I'm not 100% clear what you mean by 'I think we have to beware of "Protest Art" that co-opts protests themselves and make of them formal abstractions, i.e. protesting for protest's sake, not for redress of specific grievance.' Can you explain some more?
There's an old (i.e. May, '68) saying: "Dictatorship means, 'Shut your mouth.' Democracy means , 'Keep talking, I'm not listening.'" When people protest it's usually in order to get redress: "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," as it says in the First Amendment.
"Formal abstraction" is when you respect the right to assemble and ignore the second part. Assembling becomes a thing in its own right, Art for Art's Sake. Occupy Wall Street was a perfect example.
Fascinating piece, and I found the Bruguera piece at the Tate very moving. I had not seen it before. I absolutely take your point about the suffragettes. But I also have great sympathy for the Met (not something I expected to hear myself say ever again) on Saturday, they had to make split second decisions and if they had got it wrong the consequences would have been very serious. Also, the protestors have had more publicity and sympathy now than if they had just held up placards that noone saw.
Thanks for your thoughts, Sarah. The police are in a difficult position with this new legislation definitely, and I'm sure this won't be the last time they get into a pickle over protests.
Thank you for this- a Londoner here (hello!) and very appalled by the police force’s tactics over the weekend. Art is so important I think… as you say it’s not so much the direct effects but the documenting of them. It’s through the artist’s lens or brush that future generations come to know. 😊
Democracy is being eroded everywhere, and the obsession that you have to belong to a 'group' eg gender politics pushing people into sides, seems to be fragmenting democracy rather than making it stronger.
It does feel quite perilous. If Trump wins the next election it will be very dark for the world.
Do you honestly think protests for women’s suffrage, worker’s movements and other protests in the early 20th century should be lumped together with NED funded artists like Ai Weiwei and defectors from Cuba? It seems to me like the former are going against Western colonial/imperialist powers, while the latter are doing the exact opposite. Is the art itself the only thing that matters? Or the cause and historic context behind it? I know you’re just looking at the art scene, but at least study the geopolitical history a bit more. Would UK be any freer than Cuba if the EU waged economic and actual warfare on it at the same level as the United States? Did HK have a lively art scene before the handover in 1997? Any protest art coming from the Falklands and other colonies? Finally, if political freedom is so essential to art and creativity, why keep all those Qing dynasty masterpieces at the British Museum? Do you think those art pieces from “Ancient China” are inferior to the oil paintings of semi-democratic UK made in the same time period?
Thanks for your comments, Jun Li. Sounds like you're perhaps speaking about different things to the subject I've written about. The point I was making in my article was about the dangers of political apathy and the easy slippage of rights in democratic countries if we aren't vigilant, active citizens. All the works by the artists I mentioned speak to this point.
This has really made me think a lot today. I watched Ai Weiwei's film. So moving. Unimaginable courage displayed by those young people fighting for their rights in the face of overwhelmingly crushing and brutal pressure from the authorities. It's hope and despair all in one. I do think that those mostly young people chaining themselves to gantries and slow walking down roads care enormously about their future in this world, and we need to pay more attention to their message rather than crushing them with the force of new laws designed specifically to 'deal' with them. They are telling us truths which we mostly don't want to hear.
That's it, hope and despair at the same time. It's a very moving film, for sure.
I understand all the complaints about the inconvenience of current protest tactics by environmental groups. Of course it's a pain in the arse. But we are facing a very dire future, and now it's about how we mitigate the worst effects of climate change. If anything is 'a threat to our way of life' (in Braverman's words) it's what's coming if we don't act now.
My thumb touched “yes” and I mean to vote no!
Your later focus on Ai Wei Wei’s documentary brings back my memories of the Umbrella Revolution almost 10 years ago now. It’s amazingly scary to me how many artists between the first protests and the more recent iterations have been silenced. Filmmakers and painters have moved away...the big music festival was conveniently cancelled during the pandemic then rebranded. Majority of art educators I know have also left or will leave soon.
It serves as a warning to us all. Sure, we can say it’s China, but I think you’re right to show the dangers even in London.
You were in HK during the Umbrella Revolution? This is sad news about the exodus of creatives from HK. In Cuba now artists need a special licence to exhibit art or perform, handed out by the Ministry of Culture. Tania Bruguera can't work in Cuba anymore. I wonder how long until the same happens in HK?
I agree, I think it will. Although China is clever and has made it so that artists self censor or self exile to avoid the possible repercussions. At this point, they're sort of random, so you just never know if you are next. I lived in HK from 2008-16 and you could feel 'this' coming after the initial 2014 protests. The slow inching in of civil liberties was designed, I believe, to avoid mass protest and achieve a frog in boiling water effect. And slow control of the universities, school curricula, etc made to change the way people think about identity. Anyway, I could go on, and it's so sad, but in terms of art, it was also interesting that during this time, the government was building the M+ museum where people worried they would further control identity with art. There is still a fine line in HK where Art Basel, for example, continues...and there is some freedom even at M+. I just hope that before it's too late, maybe the powers that be will decide that freedom is better for the economy or whatever they're after.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/m-plus-museum-pulls-political-artworks-censorship-charges-1234626173/
https://artreview.com/is-there-any-hope-left-for-hong-kong-fearless-cinema/
It's that slow erosion of rights that is so insidious isn't it. Exactly like the boiling frog, yes. I can't imagine Xi will give a monkeys about the HK economy. I do think it's HK, then Taiwan...
This is awful to hear about the creatives leaving HK. I watched Ai Weiwei's Cockroach this afternoon, and it has been haunting me all day.
Nice job, and thanks for introducing me to Bruguera's work. I would like to emphasize, however, that "Art" and "Culture" are not intrinsic responses to the Police. "Art" and "Culture" ARE the Police, especially in Britain , and beginning with Matthew Arnold's classic "Culture and Anarchy" [1869], in which Arnold argues that "Culture" is the cure to popular demonstrations. He was referring to a riot that broke out when the Police tried to prevent a meeting in Hyde Park. I think we have to beware of "Protest Art" that co-opts protests themselves and make of them formal abstractions, i.e. protesting for protest's sake, not for redress of specific grievance.
Thanks for your comments, Paul, although I'm not 100% clear what you mean by 'I think we have to beware of "Protest Art" that co-opts protests themselves and make of them formal abstractions, i.e. protesting for protest's sake, not for redress of specific grievance.' Can you explain some more?
There's an old (i.e. May, '68) saying: "Dictatorship means, 'Shut your mouth.' Democracy means , 'Keep talking, I'm not listening.'" When people protest it's usually in order to get redress: "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," as it says in the First Amendment.
"Formal abstraction" is when you respect the right to assemble and ignore the second part. Assembling becomes a thing in its own right, Art for Art's Sake. Occupy Wall Street was a perfect example.
Gotcha!
Fascinating piece, and I found the Bruguera piece at the Tate very moving. I had not seen it before. I absolutely take your point about the suffragettes. But I also have great sympathy for the Met (not something I expected to hear myself say ever again) on Saturday, they had to make split second decisions and if they had got it wrong the consequences would have been very serious. Also, the protestors have had more publicity and sympathy now than if they had just held up placards that noone saw.
Thanks for your thoughts, Sarah. The police are in a difficult position with this new legislation definitely, and I'm sure this won't be the last time they get into a pickle over protests.
Thank you for this- a Londoner here (hello!) and very appalled by the police force’s tactics over the weekend. Art is so important I think… as you say it’s not so much the direct effects but the documenting of them. It’s through the artist’s lens or brush that future generations come to know. 😊
Hi Priya, thanks so much for your thoughts on this! I agree, art is SO important. It's life.
Hoorah! Yes, indeed. Thanks so much for reading, Ellen
Yes! I also thought the same about those lyrics.