#disobedient objects

Disobedient Objects - V&A

The exhibition shows how objects are used to influence and improve situations or to shed light on challenging and important issues. Objects can embody knowledge and skills, they are not formed from nothing so they carry rich narratives.

Many of the objects were produced under pressure with few resources, and may appear rough or unfinished but they are all thoughtful responses to complex situations. The exhibition shows even with the most limited of resources ordinary people can take design into their own hands.

Social movements often embody the change they want to see, they are able to demonstrate that another world is possible, by anticipating new ways of living and relating to each other; the objects begin to build the future in the present.

Culture, understood as the objects and images we should know about and value – our history is often told from above. Bread and Puppet theatre argue in their manifesto that culture should not belong to the elite but should be a staple of life for everyone – like bread.

Tear-gas mask Istanbul 2013 – remade London 2014 Sit in against the redevelopment of Gezi Park in Istanbul was violently evicted. Widespread protests ensued following this and a record amount of teargas was used against protestors – who devised makeshift gas masks. The depictions of the gas mask in posters and graffiti became significant in their own right as a symbol of resistance.

The exhibition looks at the range of object-based tactics and strategies that movements adopt to succeed. It opens up questions such as, what other forms of agency do these objects involve? Can we identify material points where disobedience begins, or turns into something else? Are some politics unable to produce objects?

Went to see the Victoria and Albert Museum today, along with the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.

Honestly my favorite was most definitely the V&A. It has a great aesthetic quality as well as a great atmosphere in general. PLUS the Disobedient Objects exhibit is EXCEPTIONAL. Great visual history of rebellion and protest.