INTERFACE

REVIEW

There is No Alternative (TINA)

The Drawing Room, London
9 October - 30 November 2008

Reviewed by: Catherine Wilson »

On entering the exhibition, I had an uncanny sense of stepping back in time to witness the unfolding of a truth that had recently become reality. The legacy of Margaret Thatcher's economic policies in the 1980s, epitomised by her hegemonic declaration 'there is no alternative' (TINA) to the global free market economy, is one reality we are living with in Britain today. The subsequent rise in neo-liberalism and creed of individualism through all fields of life, in association with the exponential growth of the global financial industry, has contributed to the present economic crisis. The unchecked, almost hedonistic, pursuit of capitalism as a right of the individual has bred something more sinister, the creation of fictitious environments to satisfy the excesses of human greed.

The group exhibition, TINA, which takes an abbreviation of Thatcher's statement as the central tenet for wider reflection, was conceived by Olivia Plender two years ago and opened in October. It brought together seven international artists: Petra Bauer, from Sweden, Argentinian Pablo Bronstein, Melanie Gilligan, originally from Canada, the Swedish artist duo Goldin + Senneby, German-born Anja Kirschner, Ciprian Muresan, who lives and works in Romania, and London-based Olivia Plender. Equally diverse was the range of media employed, from traditional ink and watercolour on paper and printmaking, to mixed media, installation, video and performance. Siting the exhibition at The Drawing Room, located in close proximity to the City in London, took the debate close to home. However, rather than addressing possible solutions to the issues, the artists' responses generated myriad questions and provocative scenarios that were difficult to passively ignore. This reinforced the complexity of the current predicament, repositioning the gravitas of history in a free-wheeling credit driven world that has denied any time dimension apart from the present.

Plender's contribution was a printed board game, 'Set Sail for the Levant' (2007). Based on the sixteenth-century 'Royal Game of the Goose', it parodied the historical struggle of the commoner to achieve social and material success in life by presenting debt as the only feasible option at every opportunity. As stated on the board, "You find yourself in the unfortunate position of being a poor tenant farmer. At the start of the game your landlord raises the rent on your house and forces you into debt." Needless to say, the cycle is a downward one until the only avenue of release from the crisis is to "set sail to the levant, where the law can't reach you. The winner is the levant who absconds leaving their debts unpaid, taking the landlord's gold with them". While the satirical narrative parallels many a reality today, the more disconcerting allusion was to the whim of greed that turns the less desirous or fortunate into pawns.

Herein is one paradox of equating the uncritical pursuit of free market capitalism with ideas of individual liberty and social freedom. In 1932, as the world was facing an economic downturn, prior to the Great Depression, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World. His dystopian vision of a future society was a place where social control, loss of individual identity and the creation of a passive society was successfully achieved by legitimising and satisfying human desire for hedonistic distraction. Society as a mass dedicated (or imprisoned) to limitless consumption, triviality, instant gratification, and the unquestioning worship of corporate entities is, as Huxley suggests, much easier to control by a wealthy/powerful minority, than one subjugated by totalitarianism.

Goldin + Senneby's work, 'Gone Offshore' (2008), sharply reminded that such a futuristic vision does not always remain in the realm of fiction. The ambience of a corporate office foyer permeated the gallery from a pink carpeted dais on which sat a glass and chrome coffee table and two chairs. A voluminous vase on the table contained an exuberant spray of tropical flowers and copies of a small printed book entitled Travel Journal, Nassau, Bahamas, March 26 - April 4, 2008, by John Barlow. Within, the author, John Barlow, explained that his sojourn in the Bahamas was to explore the secretive world of offshore companies. And, in particular, try to clarify, or otherwise, a possible connection between Acéphale - a secret society established in the 1930s, whose name translates from the Greek as 'headless' - and a registered company in the Bahamas named 'Headless Ltd'. 'Gone Offshore' was a collaborative project between Swedish artists, Goldin + Senneby, and writer, John Barlow, at the invitation of the former. The aim was to search for the truth behind the company and, thereby, "understand more about closed, inaccessible spaces in the world, be they secret societies or offshore companies, and what these spaces mean and imply", and subsequently write a popular novel based on the experiences. Ironically, further on in the text, Barlow admits, "I have never met, or even seen, either Goldin or Senneby, nor talked to them on the phone. I know nothing about them personally, other than that they have brown hair...". The reputation of the Bahamas, since the 1960s, as an idyllic base for the real and/or fictitious capitalist elite was, and is, dependent on secrecy (as well as an environment of lax business regulations). Behind elusive identities, they can wield control whilst maintaining a benign facade. The detective work of Barlow, in cahoots with Goldin + Senneby, cloak and dagger and downright comic, were conveyed to the viewer via the travel journal, and a video recording of a public discussion with Barlow playing on a monitor in the gallery. But, ultimately, Barlow intimated in the recording that he doesn't foresee the project or forthcoming novel will reveal any new truths or insights about offshore companies. Apart, that is, from reinforcing how difficult it is to get close to the inner circle of faceless power.

'Gone Offshore' made engrossing reading and viewing, but how has it performed as politically engaged art? Did it effectively undermine the power structures it set out to critique? Or was it just an offshore lark by some offshore artists? In an era where the ethos of individualism has been co-opted by capitalist production, strategies of the 'avant-garde' are no longer effective. Rather than opposition, strategies of intervention as avenues of resistance have the potential to disrupt the smooth omnipresent flows of desire and consumption, thus challenging the fa�ade of social consensus. Goldin + Senneby's project did challenge the spaces of the capitalist elite, providing an alternative discourse, even though measurable social and political change or new levels of knowledge were not a direct outcome.

The merging of fact and fiction was also suggested in Pablo Bronstein's series of ink on paper works, focusing on architectural landmarks in London, which derive from his recent publication about postmodern architecture during the Thatcher era. 'Canary Wharf' (2006), was a small, detailed, slightly surreal drawing of a neo-classical piazza, reminiscent of Giorgio de Chirico's empty mysterious architectural spaces, and pervaded by a sense of portent. Also in the exhibition was Bronstein's video, 'Temple of Lethe' (2003), which comprised static and moving images of the exterior fa�ade of the Bank of England. Close-up shots focused on columns, architectural friezes, towers and statues. Accompanied by sombre classical music, and devoid of human presence, the work drew attention to the symbolism inherent in the neo-classical architecture of many banks and financial institutions: the monolithic scale and sense of timeless power and impenetrability. Bronstein's work served to peel back layers, reveal myths, and posit to the viewer that, despite the benign appearance, there was something disturbing and disquieting hovering below the surface. The subversion was subtle, rather than didactic, urging the viewer to question the imagery and its significance.

While the hurtle towards a capitalist utopia, or dystopia, has decelerated due to the credit crisis, we still live in a society where passive consumption of information is encouraged by the centres of power. It is easy to become cynical about the potential of artists and artistic activity to genuinely contest the status quo and shift perceptions of alternative political and social possibilities. Using strategies of radicalism to overthrow one type of hegemony for another is not the answer. What art can effectively do, however, is rigorously and creatively maintain the public space as a platform for the plurality of critical voices and perspectives, in a way that ensures there is no closure on active dialogic and non-consensual discourse.

TINA will tour to Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, January - May 2009, and Storey Gallery, Lancaster, also in 2009 (dates to be confirmed).

Writer detail:

Catherine Wilson, BFA(Hons), Dip World Art, is a freelance writer and editor currently based in Sydney and working freelance in South East Asia. She has written news, features, opinion and travel articles for The Brunei Times in Brunei, The Jakarta Post in Indonesia, Asia Sentinel in Hong Kong, Solomon  Star in the Solomon Islands, London Progressive Journal in London and Crikey, source of independent journalism and news in Australia. Catherine has also written extensively about contemporary visual art, world art, culture and society for a-n Magazine and The Oxford Times newspaper in the United Kingdom, Artlink, Art & Australia and Art Asia Pacific in the Asia Pacific region and contributed essays to museum and gallery publications. In 2010, she held the position of Features Editor at The Brunei Times newspaper, based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

 

 

 

catherinewilson@hotmail.com

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