How did exhibitions become a vital tool for public communication in early twentieth century Britain? Harriet’s new book Showing resistance: propaganda and modernist exhibitions in Britain, 1933-53, published by Manchester University Press in July 2024, reveals how exhibitions were taken up by activists and politicians from 1933 to 1953, becoming manifestos, weapons of war and a means of signalling political solidarities. Drawing on dozens of examples mounted in empty shops, workers’ canteens, station ticket halls and beyond, this richly illustrated book shows how this overlooked form was created by significant makers including artists Paul Nash, John Heartfield and Oskar Kokoschka, architect Erno Goldfinger and photographer Edith Tudor-Hart. Showing resistance is the first study of exhibitions as communications in mid-twentieth century Britain.
CONTENTS:
Introduction: exhibitions as ‘propaganda in three dimensions’
1 Banishing ‘chaos, vulgarity and mediocrity’: training as an exhibition designer
2 Exhibitions as projection, promotion, policy and activism in three dimensions
3 Exhibitions as manifestos
4 Exhibitions as demonstrations
5 Counter-exhibitions
6 Exhibitions as solidarities
7 Exhibitions as weapons of war
8 Exhibitions as welfare
Conclusion
Index
Order the book here.
The nomination says: “Harriet’s historical research and its wider impact beyond academic circles deserves recognition for the way in which it evidences excellence in leading research, delivering outstanding research projects that hold currency internationally in terms of showcasing resistance during wartime and the power of art, a story that has Harriet’s research has excavated.”
The nomination also praises Harriet’s creative approach to her role as Enterprise Co-Lead for the School, bringing a wealth of experience in the policy sector to engaging both University staff and external stakeholders in this area. The nomination describes Harriet’s past experience, current research and knowledge exchange activities as having a “significant impact” in raising the profile of research and knowledge exchange in the School.
Harriet says of her nomination: “Research, for me, is a long, slow and laborious process, meted out through teaching, conversations, visits, reading and writing, over many years. I’ve been lucky enough to produce my recent research in many varied forms, including books, chapters, podcasts and documentary films and the university has supported me in all these endeavours in countless ways, for which I’m incredibly grateful. This award feels like another very welcome encouragement. It is a huge honour to receive it: thank you.”
Selected past screenings of Art on the Streets include:
Thursday 7th September 2023 at Displaying Design, ESAD College of Art and Design, Porto. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Director Dr Harriet Atkinson and Dr Zeina Maasri (University of Bristol).
23rd September 2023 to 28th January 2024 to accompany the exhibition Peri’s People at Kunsthaus Dahlem, Berlin.
7th October 2023, Gibberd Garden, Harlow, UK.
20th October 2023, 6pm, launch at Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, 43 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PD.
16th November 2023, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton as part of Cinecity Festival
9th December 2023, screening and in-conversation with Darağaç artists collective at Izmir Good Design Biennial
26 March 2024 at Bloc cinema Queen Mary University of London 6.30-8.30pm.
10 March to 2 June 2024 at Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen, to accompany the exhibition Peri’s People.
3-5 April 2024 at the Association of Art Historians conference, Bristol University, UK.
10am on Saturday 4th May 2024 at a screening and discussion with the John Lewis Archives at Cookham Festival, Berkshire UK.
From June 2024 to June 2025 it is being screened daily to accompany the exhibition Artists International Association: the first decade at Tate Britain.
The film’s trailer can be viewed here.
For any enquiries please email Harriet Atkinson at h.atkinson2@brighton.ac.uk or Carla Mitchell at carla@fourcornersfilm.co.uk
Harriet was delighted to win the prize for best External Collaboration (non-textual) from University of Brighton’s School of Humanities & Social Science in May 2024 for her film Art on the Streets, along with her co-Director Jane Dibblin. Harriet received a certificate from Professor Darren Newbury and the collaborators each received a prize of £250 to spend towards future research projects.
We are thrilled that Art on the Streets has been nominated for a Learning on Screen Award 2024, in the Video Essay category. All the nominees for 2024 awards are listed here and their work captured in a show reel: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/awards/
The awards will be given out at a ceremony at the Curzon Soho in May 2024. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/awards/award-nominees-2024/
We’re delighted that Art on the Streets has been selected as a Finalist in the category of ‘Best Documentary Short’ at the New York International Film Awards in July 2023.
It is also an official selection of the LA Independent Women Film Awards, 2023.
The film’s trailer can be viewed here.
The film will launch on Friday 8th September 2023 at a special screening at Displaying Design, the DHS Conference 2023, to be held at ESAD College of Art and Design, Porto from 7-9 September 2023. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Harriet and Dr Zeina Maasri.
A programme of further screenings is currently being finalised and will be released shortly.
Art on the Streets, a new documentary created by design historian Harriet Atkinson and filmmaker Jane Dibblin, narrated by Michael Rosen, animated by Kate Bilbow, edited by Hugh Hartford and made with support from Four Corners trainees, is launching soon.
The film – made during Harriet Atkinson’s AHRC project ‘The Materialisation of Persuasion’ – explores art’s role in providing a voice, a platform and a meeting point in the midst of conflict. The film focuses on For Liberty, an exhibition mounted in 1943 in the bombed-out John Lewis department store on London’s Oxford Street. Created by the anti-fascist artists’ collective, Artists International Association, this audacious show aimed to demonstrate the values people were fighting for. Central to the exhibition were many artists who had recently arrived in Britain having fled the Nazi threat. The film follows some of the artists who took part, including Oskar Kokoschka, Peter Laszlo Peri, Betty Rea and designer F. H. K. Henrion.
Art on the Streets features interviews with historians Harriet Atkinson, Adrian Shaughnessy, and Gillian Whiteley; and contributing artists’ family members Peter Peri, Will Rea and Max Henrion. It also draws heavily on brilliant archival film and photographs from University of Brighton’s internationally acclaimed Design Archives, Screen Archives South East, Imperial War Museum, Tate, Marx Memorial Library, Henry Moore Institute and private collections.
The team behind Art on the Streets:
Narrator: Michael Rosen
Directors: Dr Harriet Atkinson & Jane Dibblin
Editor: Hugh Hartford, Banyak Films
Animation: Kate Bilbow
Writers: Dr Harriet Atkinson & Jane Dibblin
Research: Dr Harriet Atkinson
Producers: Jane Dibblin & Carla Mitchell, Four Corners
Production Assistant: Giacomo Baraldi
Director of Photography: Elena Reimeryte
Assistant Director of Photography: Nicholas D. Celano
For further information please contact Carla Mitchell, Artistic Development Director carla@fourcornersfilm.co.uk
https://www.fourcornersfilm.co.uk/
Harriet Atkinson is on Twitter @HRAtkinson1 or on email at h.atkinson2@brighton.ac.uk.