Art and Freedom

I was in the Tate Britian yesterday and by far the standout exhibit is Mark Wallinger's State Britain. It is a supposed exact reproduction of Brian Haw's protest in Parliament Square - at least until the police came and took most of the placards away. I am not sure whether it is art, but it is certainly striking.

However when we were there we saw a man sitting by the wall. Owing to our highly attuned powers of deduction we realised it was Brian Haw himself (we recognised the hat), either taking a break from protesting or enjoying a little nostalgia. Surreal itself, but nothing compared to what followed.

In the corner of the hall that houses State Britain there are a couple of boxes that seem to contain various activities for kids to get them interested in art. A trio of teenagers had used these activity areas to create their own barriers and, as both Haw and our good selves watched, they proceed to try to add their banners ("Please give more money to our school" was one example) to the exhibit. Only to be stopped by a Tate official.

The complex levels of irony involved in the scene hurt my head, quite frankly. You have an exhibit that is an artistic reproduction of a protest that evolved over many years, basically through people adding their banners. You have a trio of kids getting into the spirit of things, and trying to expand the protest by adding their banners only to be stopped by an official representing the organisation that displays this evolutionary protest as a work of art. And all of this is witnessed by the man who inspired this work of art through protesting about, amongst other things, freedom of expression.

Quite what to make of it all I don't know. But thinking about it too much makes my eyes cross slightly...