Just a few stones’ throws from my
house, I popped over to HOME this week to take in Gentrification
is Class War, an exhibition of work from Salford-based artist
Tara Collette.
HOME’s Granada Foundation
Galleries are thin and narrow locations, containing the only routes
to other parts of the building. As a result they feel more like
galleys to me, and the work displayed there often doesn’t have
enough room to breathe. Collette’s exhibition consists of
lenticular prints which show before and after photos of
gentrification in action; and a series of ironic protest banners
responding to the shortage of affordable housing in the UK.
The
prints
and banners are
displayed on separate floors, which
is a terrible curatorial decision, isolating and
stopping them working in harmony. A banner reading ‘Housing for
all’, for example, would be a much stronger provocation in the
company of images showing razed housing in Salford, and vice-versa.
I’d
encourage a visit to the exhibition, even with its impact neutered by
being split in two. I’d
love to hear your thoughts too,
if you visit. The exhibition has gotten me thinking, too: HOME has an
‘Environmental & Sustainability Policy’ – why not have a
‘Gentrification Policy’, too? This exhibition’s text guide
speaks of ‘the growing privatisation and commercialisation of our
city centres,’ and the
First
Street area
surrounding HOME feels an exemplary instance of this. What can HOME
do to put its organisation behind the ideological claims of the art
it is exhibiting? Can an arts venue have a meaningful role to play in
fighting gentrification? I fear not but I am willing to be proven
wrong. |
