There is perhaps an obvious incongruity in presenting an exhibition about left-wing politics in an establishment like Tate. Regardless of this, Art Turning Left: How Values Changed Making 1789–2013, at Tate Liverpool is a rich and fascinating exhibition and I recommend more than one visit to fully appreciate the content. It is not an exhibition of political artworks per se, but an exploration of how artists have put their political beliefs into their work and in the process have changed the way in which their art is produced.
The different approaches adopted by artists in the exhibition include William Morris mixing craft and modern production methods to improve things for the labourer, the Mass Observation Movement (a group of poets, artists and anthropologists) collecting data on ordinary working people, and Cildo Meireles’ Insertions into Ideological Circuits – subversive messages secreted onto coke bottles and bank notes.
There is a tremendous amount of energy, conviction and action represented here. What I really enjoyed about the exhibition is how it is displayed in a non-linear way, which not only highlights the diversity of approaches but also constantly surprised me, which was also helpful in being able to concentrate throughout.
Many of the groups featured in the exhibition, such as the Situationist International, operated as collectives, often anonymously, using their mass to create a more powerful political message. Live and Let Die Collective’s painting, The Tragic End of Marcel Duchamp (1965) is made in such a way that no trace of the individual is evident, a statement intended to criticise the cult or genius of the artist. I couldn’t help thinking of how the artist as individual has never been worth more money than a big ‘name’ currently is on the secondary market.
Guerilla Girls tactics
There are also examples of artists who are promoting or protesting against values within the art world itself, the Guerilla Girls being one of the best-known examples. Their posters about the lack of women artists in the Metropolitan Museum and at auction are featured here, and the use of statistics to state the bare facts still feels incredibly powerful.
It was interesting to see in the accompanying catalogue a ‘Statement of Demands’ to museums and galleries from The Art Workers Coalition in 1970. (The publication contains extra contextual material, so it may only appear in print – or I could have missed it in the exhibition.) This still seems incredibly pertinent; a list of demands, including an outline for an exhibition (rental) fee similar to that which is paid to artists in Sweden, and another stating the need for artists to be represented on arts organisations’ boards – something the AIR Council also seeks to address.
Of more recent works, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane’s Folk Archive is included, as is Ruth Ewan’s ongoing project, A Jukebox of People Trying to Change the World – a functioning jukebox housing a collection of protest songs. I really like this piece; it is succinct and also generous in the research it contains. There is, though, a shift in these works; both are more passive in the way that they use the work of others (songs or folk traditions) as content.
This seems to say something about the wider sphere of contemporary artists working with political issues and the fact that these works are often extremely at home in, or indeed made to be in, a gallery or institutional setting. Could it be that artists are better behaved (or trained to be) than they used to be, or is it just that the majority of people (in the UK at least) are simply not at the point of urgency where ‘revolutionary zeal’, as mentioned in the exhibition text, occurs?
Art Turning Left contains everything from direct propaganda and satire to quieter or more personal political acts. For me, the exhibition prompted a reflection on my life and working conditions and served as an excellent reminder that I can create my own.
Art Turning Left: How Values Changed Making 1789–2013 continues at Tate Liverpool until 2 February 2014. www.tate.org.uk
