Popular Culture and Protest

Interesting discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival about the role of the visual arts in protest.

The sculptor Hazel Reeves, who created the statue of Emeline Pankhurst for Manchester, gave an outline of protest art she’d

 seen while on a six month post with the UN to work on women’s issues.  She then talked about the commissioning process for the Pankhurst statue, the unveiling and how she sees it not just as a one off art work but also a focus for further expression.

Maria Balshaw, the director of the Tate, then talked about how the Tate galleries are opening themselves up more protest art talking about the Tate Exchange project on the 5th floor of Tate Modern which invites in different groups to give people creative tools. She sees the turbine hall as a megaphone for issues.

They then had a fascinating discussion on the issue covering how art is moving off walls and out of galleries and the emotional resonance of events like the “We’re Here Because We are Here” event to commemorate the start of the First World War where actors dressed as soldiers interacted with the public all over Britain. This was followed by a great Q&A session which raised issues of sponsorship, the different between protest and spectacle and how public institutions should not take sides.