Mark Wallinger – State Britain
07/06/22 • 17 min
Much of Mark Wallinger’s art exists in public space. He’s made films and performance pieces set in tube stations and airports, and was the first artist to occupy the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999.
In this episode, Wallinger discusses the installation “State Britain”, which reconstructs a protest encampment originally erected in Parliament Square by the peace activist Brian Haw (in opposition to UK foreign policy in Iraq). The encampment was dismantled in 2006 under a new decree called “The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act”, effectively drawing a 1km radius around parliament within which unauthorised protests are prohibited.
This protest exclusion zone happens to run right through the middle of Tate Britain, where Wallinger faithfully reconstructed Haw’s encampment, placing it literally half in and half out of this threshold of controlled expression, with the line itself clearly marked on the floor. The installation was both a continuation of Haw’s protest, as well as an artwork about it, and the line it traced became a kind of territorial drawing, marking a disputed boundary around what can be said in opposition to political authority, as well where, and in what context, we can say it.
Power & Public Space is a co-production of Drawing Matter & the Architecture Foundation
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Much of Mark Wallinger’s art exists in public space. He’s made films and performance pieces set in tube stations and airports, and was the first artist to occupy the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999.
In this episode, Wallinger discusses the installation “State Britain”, which reconstructs a protest encampment originally erected in Parliament Square by the peace activist Brian Haw (in opposition to UK foreign policy in Iraq). The encampment was dismantled in 2006 under a new decree called “The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act”, effectively drawing a 1km radius around parliament within which unauthorised protests are prohibited.
This protest exclusion zone happens to run right through the middle of Tate Britain, where Wallinger faithfully reconstructed Haw’s encampment, placing it literally half in and half out of this threshold of controlled expression, with the line itself clearly marked on the floor. The installation was both a continuation of Haw’s protest, as well as an artwork about it, and the line it traced became a kind of territorial drawing, marking a disputed boundary around what can be said in opposition to political authority, as well where, and in what context, we can say it.
Power & Public Space is a co-production of Drawing Matter & the Architecture Foundation
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Jonas Žukauskas – Forest Parts
When we think about public space, we tend to consider the street, the plaza, the park or the square - urban spaces for people to engage in civic life. In this episode Jonas Žukauskas discusses his consideration of the forest as a space of social engagement, in relation to the project “Forest Parts”.
Initiated in 2019 in collaboration with Jurga Daubaraitė, Forest Parts is ongoing project that, as Žukauskas and Daubaraitė explain, “offers to perceive the forest as an infrastructure formed by civic consensus. The unique cultural landscape of the Curonian Spit and the forestation process initiated in the 19th century serve as a case study of forest management works in this complex space to interrelate a series of ecological, recreational, representational, and industrial narratives.”
In this episode Žukauskas discusses architecture as a cultural practice, which, in the case of the Forest Parts project, is deemed capable of “enhancing the optics through which society senses a forest.” He also expands on the novel forms of drawing and representation deployed to bring the public to a more intimate understanding of the forest itself.
Power & Public Space is a co-production of Drawing Matter & the Architecture Foundation
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Andre Patrao – Chora L Works (Parc de la Villette)
Parc de la Villette was emblematic of the strong ties made between the disciplines of architecture and philosophy in the1980's, where “Deconstructivism” in particular became a theoretical framework through which buildings and landscapes were both designed and interpreted.
Visual fragmentation and conceptual links to semiotic analysis characterised this period of architecture, and originating in projects such as Chora L. Works. A collaboration between Peter Eisenman and Jaques Derrida, the unrealised Chora project was intended to stand within the Parc de la Villette complex as an ode to a dialogue between architecture and philosophy.
In light of such pressing issues as climate change, decolonisation and spatial inequality, the formal experimentation and philosophical inquiry of Chora L Works can appear abstract and disengaged; In this episode Andre Patrao reflects on this period of recent architectural history and what can we learn from it.
Power & Public Space is a co-production of Drawing Matter & the Architecture Foundation
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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