CREATIVITY IN THE AGE OF TERROR
On 2 November 2017, two days after the most horrific terror attack since 9/11 was carried out in New York City, life in Manhattan had returned to normality. The police cordons were removed from the incident site, the popular Hudson river bike path, and several bikers resumed using the Lower Manhattan cycle lane.
Terror attacks like the 2017 Halloween truck attack on pedestrians and cyclists have been on the rise since 2015. As a result, any political or election debate is dominated by the topic of terror in the West, and stricter laws are being passed on immigration and security in Europe and America.
In London’s Imperial War Museum exhibition - Age of Terror: Art since 9/11 - artists explore these and other changes in our society that have followed one of the deadliest terror attacks in history. Curated by Sanna Moore, this collection brings to the foreground the differences between creating art resulting from personal motivation, for example, to deal with emotions, to art produced in the name of political activism.
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Gerhard Richter’s September (2005) is painted in his classical style of abstraction completed by harsh brushstrokes. Yet this time his canvas inhabits only one colour scheme - grey.
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Upon looking closer, the shadows of the Twin Towers and two small white planes become visible. Richter was apprehensive whether his work was a dutiful tribute to the horrors.
The artist was even convinced September should be burned, like 89 other paintings of his which he destroyed due to self-criticism. But somehow, the grey canvas managed to escape this fate.
True to their style, the infamous British duo Jake and Dinos Chapman created a shocking piece of art. Two mounts of miniature bloodied Nazi soldier figures allude to the towers which stood side by side in Lower Manhattan. The Chapmans’ message is that violence, a concept dominantly associated with Fascism, continues in new ways, shapes and forms.
These and the other artworks first encountered are most poignant due to the admirer being able to feel the artists’ raw and imminent emotions upon hearing about the tragedy. As the exhibition moves onto exploring the direct political consequences of 9/11, works become more critical. Gone is the raw emotion.
Dissident of China’s Communist Party, Ai Weiwei’s Surveillance Camera And Plinth (2015) reflects today’s society, where any city is unimaginable without police presence and CCTV. His marble sculpture also criticises his home country, where state control has by far eclipsed human rights.
The other paintings and installations in this space all heavily criticise the political decisions that followed President Bush’s famous speech of declaring ‘war on terror.’ Kennardphillips’ eye-catching installation, which recreates Blair’s face from newspaper pages, alludes that the media should shoulder the blame with the former British Prime Minister who entered the 2003 Iraq War.
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As one observes this room charged with social commentary, the only artwork where the message isn’t easily deciphered is Alfredo Jaar’s 1 May, 2011 (2011). The Cuban artist juxtaposes a screen with the famous image of President Obama’s cabinet, watching the Osama bin Laden execution, to a white screen. This symbolizes the absence of pictures from the assassination and how the media selection of images can shape public opinion.
While these installations examine the important question of how to balance privacy with state safety, many fall into the pitfall of political activism – a lack of ingenuity. Jaar’s work is by far the only piece from this selection which is inventive. When observing this, the viewer can think longer and more creatively through the absence of an obvious message, whereas the other compositions catapult their meaning within seconds and rob the audience of any chance to analyse.
Another theme with which many creatives have worked is society’s relationship with firearms. These artworks, examining how our culture and entertainment industry have ‘normalised’ weapons, contain more ingenuity than the previous selection focusing on state control.
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Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum criticises this most severely with her Natura Morta (2012). She places hand-grenades of many different and shiny colours in what appears to be a living room decoration cupboard, making the deadly weapons look like Christmas decorations at first sight.
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The final part of the exhibition shows the consequences people across the world have suffered due to the geo-political decisions and interventions as part of the West’s ‘war on terror.’ Artists explore life inside war zones, separation from loved ones and veterans returning to society with PTSD or injuries.
The most personal and moving piece is undoubtedly Hanaa Malallah’s My Country Map (2008). Using burned canvas and oil colour, the Iraqi artist creates a map showing the devastation of her region. Borderless, with names of places burned into the canvas by force and containing red paint to show the ‘conflict zones,’ her map is the most accurate depiction of current day Iraq. Malallah has found the perfect equation of mixing personal feelings with political activism and creating something moving yet critical.
This exhibition delivers its audience many varied artistic interpretations of the past decade’s political and cultural developments. While many artists failed to approach their political criticism with any creativity, few, amongst them Malallah and Jaar, delivered truly educational and original pieces. Viewers will also experience the difference between art created to explore human emotions, as did Richter’s piece, opposed to artworks that are a political statement. Out of the entire Imperial War Museum’s collection, only one artist, Malallah, was able to amalgamate these two drives perfectly. Due to this reason and the lacklustre ingenuity of many installations, the exhibition fails to impress viewers and is not recommendable.
*****
Age of Terror: Art since 9/11
Imperial War Museum, London, United Kingdom
Until 28 May, £7.5-£15
The starting point of 'Age of Terror' is the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and how artists reacted to the shocking events. Famous contemporaries such as Grayson Perry, the Chapman brothers and Gerhard Richter have used their usual style and mediums to express emotions of shock, disbelief and anger after witnessing the century-defining event.
