We live in turbulent times, to paraphrase the title of the exhibition with which the IVAM in Valencia commemorates its thirty years of existence. Ambiguous and unjust times, which follow a logic more appropriate to a dystopian novel than to the supportive and sustainable world in which we would like to live. As in the 1930s or the 1960s, it seems that we have no choice but to protest, to publicly show our rejection of situations or actions that are unjust or disproportionate, through marches, demonstrations, resistance, violent or peaceful actions, infiltrations, strikes, boycotts, critical articles, ironic tweets or #hashtags.
Art can also be a broad field of expression that is nourished by criticism and social commentary, activism or the proposal of alternatives. From the distribution of Coca-Cola bottles with the message “Yankees go home”, infiltrated by the artist Cildo Meireles, to the drawings of protests taken from the media by Rirkrit Tiravanija, passing through the posters and statistics of Guerrilla Girls, there have been many artists who have raised their voices against American interventionism, social injustices or inequality between men and women.
At the point where representation meets action, it is worth remembering the cases in which artists collect or collaborate with activists who successfully resolve their claims. Two examples: the videographic works of the Austrian Oliver Ressler, recently presented in an exhibition at the Angels Barcelona gallery, on actions by activist groups aimed at warning against climate change with the proposal of alternatives to stop the inevitable. This is the case of the multi-channel installation “Everything’s coming together while everything is falling apart” (2016-2018) which captures various actions such as the blockade of a power station in Germany or the community created after the blockade of the construction of an airport in France.
Another case is that of The Yes Men, a well-known group of American activists who on January 16 distributed a false/optimistic edition of The Washington Post, dated May 1, 2019, in which the news of Donald Trump’s resignation as president appeared on the front page, following the continuous protests carried out by women, and whose interior summarized the news that we would all like to be true: from #MeToo to Trump “You’re Fired”, the positive reaction of the international community, the end of injustices and the triumph of democracy. And, above all, the news appears to be the fake edition of the same newspaper that already predicted the events that are narrated in May 2019.
Change the imaginary and resist. Exercise our rights, vote to be able to change things. Protest and be proactive at the same time. Fight against injustice and, above all, do not conform.
A group of activists distributes “Bye Bye 45,” a satirical edition of The Washington Post. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Yes Labs
[Artice published in Bonart, 2019]
