In small groups of three, we were asked to create our own idea for an art exhibition, countering in the location, the artist or artists, and the display around the gallery. We decided on using the street graffiti artist Banksy as our main figure for our exhibition due to an agreement that we wanted to do something clever or witty, friendly to the community and possibly controversial, and we felt this was very much Banksy’s attire. We also thought of Tom Hunter, with his narrative story lines from his “life and death in hackney” series.
We then decided on the location being London, due to the city being extremely busy, the capital of the country and the heart of art culture in the United Kingdom. We felt the exhibition being placed here would not only have the opportunity to for more people to view it, but would also draw in creative minds alike to appreciate the exhibition. Hypothetically, with big figureheads strolling around London, it could also be rather likely that if they were to be impressed by the exhibition, and may commission us to curate another exhibition. We decided to have two locations in London as a bit of a twist. The first location would be the famous, luxurious Ritz hotel, after we researched and found out they had their own gallery spaces. The second location would be in the underground, rather close to the Ritz, and an extremely public place. The concept behind this was that we would place Tom hunter’s images on display along the walls of the underground, and Banksy’s physical pieces placed around the Ritz, with white taped arrows leading over to the underground. We would have advertised the Ritz gallery is Tom Hunter’s work, with the intent that only the rich, high class people will feel they would have the privilege to see this exhibition, when it’s actually completely free to the public just down the road. The title of the exhibition would be “Eat The Rich” after Banksy art piece, with Banksy’s work being the replacement in the Ritz as a hint to the prank pulled on the richer hierarchy.
The concept was that the exhibition was an art piece in itself, trying to define, mock and revoke social hierarchy privileges in order to show equality, giving the public a chance to see magnificent artwork without spending a penny. Although this concept seems pretty cool and paper, I’m not sure how well it would work out; Overall, the people that didn’t have to pay, the artists, and the curators would think they had performed justice to the social class system, with one great prank. On the other hand, it may well not be deemed as professional, and the people who had paid for the exhibition would have been lured by false advertising, supposedly demanding a refund. Tell us what you think?
Gerry Burton - Photography 