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Artist and Society
Explore artworks from Tate's collection that respond to their social and political context
This wing is concerned with the ways in which artists engage with social ideals and historical realities. Though some artists associated modernism with a utopian vision, art has also provided a mirror to contemporary society, sometimes raising awareness about urgent issues or arguing for change. Whether through traditional media or moving images, abstraction or figuration, militancy or detached observation, all the artworks in this wing highlight aspects of the social reality in which they were made, and try to generate a reaction and convey a more or less explicit message to their publics.
12 rooms in Artist and Society
Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept ‘Waiting’ 1960
In 1959, Fontana began to cut the canvas, with dramatic perfection. These cuts (or tagli) were carefully pre-meditated but executed in an instant. Like the holes in some of his other canvases, they have the effect of drawing the viewer into space. In some, however, the punctures erupt from the surface carrying the force of the gesture towards the viewer in a way that is at once energetic and threatening. Although these actions have often been seen as violent, Fontana claimed ‘I have constructed, not destroyed.’
Gallery label, April 2009
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Jenny Holzer, BLUE PURPLE TILT 2007
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Andrea Bowers, The Worker’s Maypole, An Offering for May Day 1894 (Illustration by Walter Crane) 2015
The source for Bowers’ drawing is an illustration by the British artist Walter Crane (1845–1915), published in The Clarion, a socialist magazine, in 1894. Emphasising a continuous tradition of political activism, Bowers recreated the image on sections of cardboard boxes, using a permanent marker pen. She had seen similar materials used to construct placards by twenty-first century protestors such as the Occupy Wall Street encampment. She also altered some of the text on Crane’s banners to reflect more recent political campaigns.
Gallery label, February 2016
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Siah Armajani, Room for Deportees 2017
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Tourmaline, Salacia 2019
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Farah Al Qasimi, Woman in Leopard Print 2019
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Lucio Fontana
Spatial Concept ‘Waiting’
1960
Jenny Holzer
BLUE PURPLE TILT
2007
Andrea Bowers
The Worker’s Maypole, An Offering for May Day 1894 (Illustration by Walter Crane)
2015
Siah Armajani
Room for Deportees
2017
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