OUGD505 - Product Range Distribution - Disobedient Objects at the V&A Museum

The exhibition was really useful, it showed some real life examples of how graphic design has been used to promote political, social and cultural change in recent years.

Book Blocs (Italy 2011)

"In 2011, Italian students protested against severe budget cuts to education. They created cardboard and plexiglas shields decorated like books. Each student picked their own book to protect and represent them, These were used to non-violently push back against police baton strikes and punches. When the police struck the symbolic books, they acted out an attack on learning itself.

The book bloc idea spread like a meme. It can now be seen around the world in protests against cuts to public education and libraries."

   

Protest Signs (London 2011 and Moscow 2012)

"Many young people in Britain were angry about cuts to education funding announced by the new government after the 2010 general election. Large numbers took part in street demonstrations for the first time and discovered the immediacy of simple handmade placards. Hundreds of placards representing personal responses were carried on marches and shared as images on social media."












"Vladimir Putin's announcement in 2011 that he was going to stand for a third term as president was met by mass rallies on the streets of Moscow."

They featured a lot of handmade placards. These two were displayed at a LGBT rally and the colours play on some of the homophobic policies implemented by Putin.













Defend The Right To Strike Banner (London 1976)

"When a worker was fired for not working fast enough and others for supporting her, workers at the Grunwick film processing laboratories went on strike. Most of the strikers at the Londoon plant were East-African Asian women. It ws the first UK dispute in which ethnic minority strikers received strong support from the labour movement. The design for this banner echoes the constructivist poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by Soviet artist El Lissitsky"

Guerrilla Girls (1985)

"In 1985 a group of women artists set out to expose sexism, racism and corruption in the art world. Calling themselves the Guerrilla Girls they used graphics and public actions to deliver facts with humour. Members of the group wear gorilla masks, which they source from fancy dress shops and websites. They describe themselves as 'feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman'."

Karnataka State Farmers Association Sign (India 2014)

"Boards like this were displayed at the entrance of villages from 1982. They were a response to government and bank officers entering villages and farmer's houses without warning, beating women and seizing property illegally. The simple sign forced a new arrangement. Versions of it are used today in villages across Karnataka as part of a grossroots 'village republic' organised by KRRS (Karnataka State Farmers Association)."

Occupy Sandy Wayfinding Sign (New York 2012)

"Occupy Sandy formed in the absence of a state-led disaster response to Hurricane Sandy in New York. It was the first and largest coordinated body on the scene. Built on the technological and personal networks of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Sandy distributed thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands in aid to storm-battered residents throughout the city."












Phone Story (Italy 2011)

"This is a free game app that guides players through the production of the device they are playing it on. To win you must force children to mine coltan in the Congo, prevent worker protest-suicides in the factory in China, manage rabid consumers in the West and dispose of electronic waste unsafely in Pakistan. Phone Story was banned from Apple's iTunes store four days after it was released."












Tiki Love Truck (London and Texas 2007)

"This vehicle commemorates John Joe 'Ash' Amador. He was sentenced to death by the state of Texas. After his execution, his friend British artist Carrie Reichardt and his family took his body to a cabi in the woods where Nick Reynolds cast a death mask. Ten days later, back in Britain, the Tiki Love Truck drove through Manchester. With Ash's mask in pride of place, it presented a spectacular statement against the death penalty."

Quotes Displayed Around The Exhibition

   

   

   

   

   

During the exhibition there were some speeches being played in the background. I recognised one of them, the last 25 seconds of the video below.

I tried to get a video recording of this on my phone, but unfortunately Jamie was being a prat and jumping infront of me, so this is what I got.

I Googled the words and found that it was a speech by a man called Mario Salvio, a Freedom of Speech spokesman at California University at 1964. After spending a summer as a civil rights worker in segregationist Mississippi.

I recognised them from the intro and outro from the above Linkin Park song, an American band that has connotations of rebellion and revolt through their image and genre.

It shows how a strong message can be relayed in different contexts and in different time periods, which means that it's not too important that a campaign is totally original.