A recent work, the ‘Complete Equality’ woodcut series, attempts to combine many
of these influences and ideas. It shows a developing visual language,
incorporating representational and abstract elements. The text is partly a homage to Hirschhorn’s
political stance and partly an expression of my own interest in the utopian goal of
‘equality’.
 |
| Peter Driver, over-printed reduction woodcut, Complete Equality, 2014 |
Having
read around the issue of social inequality, including Wilkinson & Pickett
(2010), and Dorling (2010), I am convinced that it has a corrosive effect in
society and I was interested to make a work that leads people to think about
it.
 |
| Peter Driver, reduction woodcut, Complete Equality, 2014 |
Kester
(2004) comments on the movement of artists towards new forms of dialogical,
collaborative art from the 1960s onwards. He quotes British artist Stephen
Willats (b.1943), whose work with social housing tenants over protracted
periods is aimed at:
“representing the potential self-organising richness of
people within a reductive culture of objects and possessions. In a society
which reduces people, I’m working to celebrate their richness and complexity. I
see this as a kind of cultural struggle” (Kester: p91).
I spent the first 21 years of my life living on a council estate and am aware of the cultural rifts within our society that Willats
was struggling with. They have been
documented eloquently by Hanley (2007) and Jones (2012). In part, that ‘cultural struggle’ is what I am
interested in: challenging conventional readings of our culture and the status
quo.
 |
| Public reading of George Thom's poetry, Winchester 2014 |
Willats
proposed a “socially interactive model of
art practice” (Kester: p92) where the artist and audience interact, with
each other and with the artwork, all in relation to their context. Through working interactively with audiences,
the artist is able to:
“transform
their consciousness of the world through a dialogical encounter that is
mediated by the production on image/text pieces” (Kester:
p93).
For Willats, then, the artist, as well as the audience, is
transformed by the artwork. This is
somewhat similar to Hirschhorn’s interest in ‘the Other’:
“To me, the Other
is my next, my neighbour. The Other is what is unfamiliar to me, what is
strange to me, what I cannot understand and what I am afraid of… I think Art –
because it is Art – can create the conditions for confrontation or direct
dialogue with the Other, from one to one. In this sense Art has political
meaning”. (Hirschhorn: 2007)
Kester discusses
the emergence of artists in recent years who base their practice:
“…around the facilitation
of dialogue amongst diverse communities. Parting from the traditions of object
making, these artists have adopted a performative, process-based approach” (Kester:
p1)
I am
seeking to promote such dialogue and reflection and to stimulate wider
conversations about the meanings of my work.
Through the ‘March for Optimism’ referred to below, and the on-going
production and distribution of my ‘infinite edition’, I am providing a context
to facilitate that conversation. But at
the same time, my practice involves making multiples of aesthetic objects,
using laborious means and traditional techniques, which are centuries old.
 |
| Woodcut in progress |
The
major development of my work in preparing for my degree show was the realisation
that I wanted to engage a wider audience and provide a context for considering
this material. The debate rages within
me when faced with totalitarian statements such as ‘Complete Equality’ and ‘You
are Welcome Here’. It provokes an
inner dialogue about fear of the other and the realisation that the goals of
justice and equality are unattainable on a macro scale. But I still want to put these phrases out
into the world for people to consider and respond to and so I devised ‘The
March for Optimism’.
 |
| Peter Driver: March for Optimism, 6 May 2014, Winchester High Street (photo Katie Doyle) |
The
‘March’ was a public art event. It was in the long tradition embracing Guy Dubord’s Situationist actions, Fluxus
street works, and knowingly followed the more recent example of Jeremy Deller’s
‘Procession’ for Manchester International Festival (2009). However there were unique elements in its form
and content. I promoted it as:
“a
colourful procession with banners, placards and balloons - along Winchester
High Street, on Tuesday 6th May, commencing at 4:15pm. The procession
will be bearing texts, which appear to celebrate optimism, acceptance and
embrace of all mankind. Asked
to explain the idea, Peter said: “This is not a protest but an art project
involving the most diverse crowd I can muster, in a procession to acknowledge
(and maybe celebrate) the existence of optimism, despite all the reasons for
pessimism.” (Driver 2014)
The
main banner for the march featured a quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jnr: ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it
bends towards justice’. I decided to present this text in textiles and colours reminiscent of trade union
banners or gay pride marches. I was not
necessarily standing behind this statement. My position is more ambivalent than that, but
I wanted to present it for people to consider.
 |
| Liz Driver making the banner |
Just as
Jeremy Deller relies upon the services of Ed Hall, banner maker to the trade
union movement, to realise his ideas in fabric, I relied on Liz, my wife,
to make this banner to my design. Preparing
for the march, in liaison with the Police, City Council, County Council and
local media, was a positive learning experience.
 |
| Peter Driver: March for Optimism, Winchester High Street, 6 May 2014 (photo Wong Miao Hui) |
Reflection
‘What’s the Point of it?’ The
title of Martin Creed’s recent retrospective at Hayward Gallery is pertinent to
my reflection on my own practice. In Creed’s case I think his point is that
there is nothing beyond the arbitrary choices we make in life. One of his harshest critics suggests that:
“For all the whimsical
humour, this is serious stuff, reductivist, nihilistic, the grinning mask of
the culture of death.” (Halliday: 2014).
I have
to accept that audiences will draw their own conclusions about my work and its
meanings. Nihilism and the cynical use
of irony are almost accepted as the orthodoxy of our post-modern culture and
many will bring this with them to their interpretation of my texts. But if my interest in optimism as a phenomenon
is in some way an attempt to redress the balance and present another reading of
reality, it is a problematic position to defend. When Sean
Cubitt (2014) can deliver an eloquent and principled address to the
audience of Transmediale Festival, Berlin, about the relentless destruction of our global environment by shameless ‘cyborg’ energy corporations with 'human chips', where is the ground for
optimism? When other speakers at the
same conference can talk, with some enthusiasm, about a future when all that
will remain of the ‘anthropocean epoch’ will be a thin line of plastic waste in
the geological strata - why keep getting up in the mornings? Faced with our unrelenting capacity for war,
genocide, exploitation, slavery and oppression, why should anyone imagine we
humans could do anything to improve our plight?
My
personal history as an artist began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the
sub-culture of evangelical Christianity – an insular sub-culture where
Rookmaaker (1970) and Seerveld (1980) were the main serious thinkers writing about
the (potentially redemptive) role of art in society. I began separating myself from that
sub-culture some years ago, because of my aversion to dogma and its lust for
certainty in matters that are unknowable. However, I still recognise some of those
foundational myths as the source of my high view of human beings. And so, for me, it remains imperative to act
in the world, as far as possible, in a way that does no harm, that honours
every person; that does not deliberately alienate, mock or exclude
anybody. In my best moments, my politics
and art are based on this foundation – and in others, I distance myself, presenting
them as extant ideas to be considered.
That’s the point of it.
 |
| Peter Driver: March for Optimism, Winchester High Street, 6 May 2014 (photo Wong Miao Hui) |
In the
extremely helpful book ‘Situation’ edited by Claire Doherty, Mark Hutchinson
considers how different forms of public art deal with the relationship between
the artwork, the artist and potential audiences. There are clearly limitations on what art is
able to be and do in a shared public space but locating it there can make
visible an artist’s assumptions and commitments in a way that gallery-based art
might not. Hutchinson also warns (Doherty: 2009, p102) that if the complexities
of the work’s reception are not considered along with the making of the work,
it risks being patronising or authoritarian. I tried to consider this in devising the ‘March
for Optimism’ and to be aware that there are different potential audiences for
the work. The easiest audience, or
low-hanging fruit, were my fellow students and colleagues at WSA. I was confident in their support and willingness to turn out for this event. Other
audiences - the non-exclusive audiences I claim to seek - were harder to reach but half a dozen or so came along in
response to the local press coverage and radio interview I organised, or
the social media promotion of the event, or the listing in the City Council’s
‘what’s on’ guide.
As to
the motivation for the ‘March’: at worst, it could be seen as a vanity project; a
photo-opportunity created to provide a set of impressive images for a degree
show. At best, it was an authentic
action in the world that allowed audiences to become participants and gave them
reason to reflect on why optimism exists, despite all the reasons in the world
for pessimism.
This
project was dependent on the participation of potential audiences. Without them the work would not have come into
being. There was risk of failure here - and hopefully commensurate rewards
for success: but what does success look like?
Doherty suggests key tests for a public work: ‘
“Does it move you? Does it
shake up your perceptions of the world around you, or your backyard? Do you
want to tell someone else about it? Does it make you curious to see more?”
(Doherty: 2013, p16)
I was pleased that people turned out and had an enjoyable experience. If they took time to consider their own
responses to the apparently optimistic texts, I was even more pleased.
 |
| Peter Driver, degree show installation view |
 |
| March for Optimism Video in WSA degree show 2014 |
I was thrilled that my degree show work was selected for the 2014 Graduate Platform programme, leading in the first stage to a group exhibition at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth. I feel this could be the beginning of
something and I will keep you posted. Meanwhile … I’m glad you’re
alive!
 |
| Print stack installed for WSA degree show, 2014 |
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