After Mark Wallinger, State Britain, 2007"Mark Wallinger was shortlisted for State Britain at Tate Britain, a direct representation of the banners and paraphernalia of Brian Haw's protest in Parliament Square. The jury commended its immediacy, visceral intensity and historic importance. The work combines a bold political statement with art's ability to articulate fundamental human truths."
Extract from Tate press release, 3rd December 2007
If one of the purposes of art is to present the world back to us in surprising or extraordinary ways then too often in practice it amounts trying to find surprising and extraordinary ways to present art back to us. But the strategies and moves in this game are becoming increasingly circular, and so less effective.
The objection is not that the form of the art deviates too far from what is expected, but that it deviates too little.
By drawing a visible and embarrassing totem of political dissent into the arms of state patronage, Wallinger has conspired to more effectively neutralise this oppositional act than those who sought to impose a crude ban on the protest in the first place.
