Revolt & Revolutions Media Release
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Revolt & Revolutions Media Release An Arts Council Collection National Partner exhibition 6 January–15 April 2018 Bothy Gallery Creativity has long been associated with vanguard ideas. Art and music can give a voice to the unheard, empower the vulnerable and celebrate the human capacity for positive action, even in adversity. Revolt & Revolutions, drawn primarily from the Arts Council Collection, gives an insight into counterculture and anti-establishment movements, and shows the work of artists who seek to make a difference – helping to suggest ways that we might contribute to change on an individual, community and even global level. Martin Boyce, Souvenir The exhibition is announced by Susan Philipsz’s tentative version of The Internationale Placards, 1993. Arts (1999) broadcast across the landscape, drawing visitors into the Bothy Gallery. Inside, Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London Ruth Ewan’s A Jukebox of People Trying to Change the World (2003) invites you to select © the artist. Gift of from an ever-growing archive of protest songs, recently updated to include the Trump era. Charles Saatchi 1999 A series of sculptures and prints from the mid-1970s, around the time of YSP’s inception, highlight the volatile environment of the era and the rise of anti-capitalist, punk and do-it-yourself movements: Christiania (1977) by Mark Edwards captures the Danish anarchist commune that emerged from the squatting of an abandoned military barracks in Copenhagen; Andrew Logan’s Homage to the New Wave (1977), a large mirrored mosaic safety pin, appropriates the symbol that came to represent punk culture and ethos; and Victor Burgin’s Possession (1976) questions the fairness of wealth distribution. In Peter Kennard’s subversive photomontage Haywain, Constable (1821) Cruise Missiles U.S.A. (1981) (1981), three nuclear warheads are inserted into the idyllic East Anglian countryside of John Constable’s painting The Hay Wain (1821). Shown alongside Marcus Lyon’s Greenham Women to be Evicted (1992) and Nightguard, Stonehenge (from our Forbidden Land) (1988) by Fay Godwin, the works highlight a shift towards anti-war and land access activism in the 1980s and 1990s. Helmet Head No.3 (1960) by Henry Moore, a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, also features. The final room premieres a new episode of Larry Achiampong and David Blandy’s FF Gaiden series. The video, which uses the virtual landscape of Grand Theft Auto V as its backdrop, shares the story of Alison Catherall, a local resident who has long championed social justice at a grass roots level. Coinciding with Alfredo Jaar’s major YSP exhibition The Garden of Good and Evil (until 8 April 2018), a poetic interrogation of humanitarian issues and human and civil rights abuse, Ruth Ewan, A Jukebox of People Trying to Change Revolt & Revolutions continues a strand of YSP programming that encourages debate the World, 2003 – ongoing. and presents issues relevant to contemporary society. Installation view, The New Museum, New York. Rowe Exhibition-inspired events include Do You Want to Change the World? (20 February CD jukebox containing a 2018) on the evening of the United Nation’s World Day of Social Justice. Let’s Play Vinyl: collection of songs, varying in origin, with political or Heritage HiFi (3 March 2018) celebrates the fact that the first independent English idealist motives. Courtesy record label was started by Mike Levon, a student of Bretton Hall – bring your vintage the artist and Rob Tufnell, London/Cologne. dub and vinyl records and join Let’s Go Yorkshire and selector Paul Huxtable for an Andrew Logan, Homage to afternoon of music. the New Wave, 1977. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Visitors are invited to share how they would change the world using #60SecondSoapBox Centre, London © the artist Notes to Editors Yorkshire Sculpture Park is part of the Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme. Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England. Visitors are invited to see more of the Arts Council Collection in the new Arts Council Collection Touring Exhibition, In My Shoes: Art and the Self since the 1990s which is on display at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park from 1 April to 17 June 2018. For press enquiries, contact: Sophie Steel, SUTTON: +44 (0)20 7183 3577 / [email protected] Kerry Chase, Yorkshire Sculpture Park: +44 (0)1924 832515 / [email protected] For press enquiries regarding Arts Council Collection, contact: Filipa Mendes, Southbank Centre: +44 (0)20 7921 0919 / [email protected] About Yorkshire Sculpture Park Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2017. It is an independent charitable trust and registered museum (number 1067908) situated in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate in West Yorkshire. Founded in 1977 by Executive Director Peter Murray, YSP was the first sculpture park in the UK, and is the largest of its kind in Europe, providing the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety alongside a significant collection of sculpture, including bronzes by Henry Moore, and site-specific works by Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and James Turrell. YSP also mounts a world-class, year- round temporary exhibitions programme including some of the world’s leading artists across five indoor galleries and the open air. Recent highlights include exhibitions by Not Vital, KAWS, Bill Viola, Anthony Caro, Fiona Banner, Ai Weiwei, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Amar Kanwar, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Joan Miró. YSP’s core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation and Sakurako and William Fisher through the Sakana Foundation. YSP was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2014. ysp.org.uk About Arts Council Collection The Arts Council Collection is a national loan collection of British art from 1946 to the present day. With nearly 8,000 works and more than 1,000 loans made to over 100 venues a year, it is seen by millions of people in public spaces from galleries and museums to hospitals, libraries and universities. Representing one of the most important collections of British modern and contemporary art in the world, it includes work from Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley and Grayson Perry. The Collection supports and promotes British artists by acquiring art at an early stage of their careers. The Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London and includes the Sculpture Centre located at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. artscouncilcollection.org.uk About National Partner Exhibitions To mark the Arts Council Collection’s 70th anniversary, in 2016, Arts Council England invested in a network of four National Partner museums and galleries across England, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, Birmingham Museums Trust, The Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool and the Collection’s existing partner, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The partners will provide a year-round home for art works within the Collection, hosting a special programme of at least 24 National Partner exhibitions between April 2016 and Spring 2019. About Arts Council England Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. artscouncil.org.uk About Southbank Centre The Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England. Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England. southbankcentre.co.uk Social Media #YSP / #RevoltAndRevolutions / #ACCNationalPartners Twitter: @YSPsculpture / @A_C_Collection Instagram: @YSPsculpture / @artscouncilcollection.