Review: ‘Untitled (Past, Present, Future)’

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Applications for the copyright owner’s permission to reproduce part of this publication should be addressed to the Publishers. © 2018 George Orwell Studies & Abramis Academic ISSN 2399-1267 ISBN 978-1-84549-734-7 Contents Special Issue: Orwell and the Arts Guest Editorial Examining the ‘Genius’ of Orwell’s Art – by Tim Crook Page 3 Papers Keynote: Orwell and Literary Art – by Len Platt Page 7 ‘The Art of Donald McGill’: Orwell and the Pleasures of Sex – by Richard Lance Keeble Performance and Spectation in Orwell’s Burmese Days – by Douglas Kerr Orwell, Poetry and the Microphone – by Tim Crook Page 21 Page 37 Page 51 Short Story 2017 My Year of Orwell – and One Last Gift – by Nicola Rossi Page 60 Article ‘Room 103’: Orwell’s Influence on Contemporary Visual Art – by Glenn Ibbitson Page 70 Other Papers Orwell and the Appeal of Opium – by Darcy Moore Orwell as Social Patriot – and British Cinema Studies – by Martin Stollery Book Reviews Elinor Taylor on The Proletarian Answer to the Modernist Question, by Nick Hubble; Peter Stansky on The Duty to Stand Aside: Nineteen EightyFour and the Wartime Quarrel of George Orwell and Alex Comfort, by Eric Laursen; John Newsinger on Under Siege: The Independent Labour Party in Interwar Britain, by Ian Bullock; Paul Anderson on Political and Cultural Perceptions of George Orwell: British and American Views, by Ian Williams, and Nick Hubble on Hope Lies in the Proles: George Orwell and the Left, by John Newsinger Exhibition Review Orwell-inspired museum installation makes for uneasy viewing – by Darcy Moore Page 83 Page 103 Page 118 Page 135 Copyright 2018 George Orwell Studies Vol. 3, No. 1 2018 1 Editor Richard Lance Keeble Reviews Editor Luke Seaber Production Editor Paul Anderson Editorial Board Kristin Bluemel Tim Crook Peter Marks John Newsinger Marina Remy Jean Seaton Peter Stansky D. J. Taylor Florian Zollmann 2 Copyright 2018 George Orwell Studies Vol. 3, No. 1 2018 University of Lincoln University College London University of Essex Monmouth University, New Jersey Goldsmiths, University of London University of Sydney Bath Spa University Paris Sorbonne University of Westminster Stanford University, US Author, journalist, biographer of Orwell Newcastle University EXHIBITION REVIEW Orwell-inspired museum installation makes for uneasy viewing DARCY MOORE Visiting the Stedelijk Museum with my family, after three rewarding but long days of getting value for money from our museum discount card, was one highlight of our time in Amsterdam. By this stage we were weary and in danger of becoming jaded with even the most fabulous cultural artefacts, but such was the excellence of the curation at this modern art museum we wandered for several hours, delightfully stimulated, making our own paths through the installations and varied pieces on display. One of the most memorable works was a ‘wall wrap’ created by the American artist, Barbara Kruger (b. 1945) who appropriates one of the most famously disturbing sentences in literature, by paraphrasing from George Orwell’s dystopic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four: ‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face, forever.’ ‘Untitled (Past, Present, Future)’, an enormous digital print on vinyl, overwhelms the viewer on entering the space. It is challenging to describe an artwork situated on the mezzanine that incorporates two floors, three walls, a lift, steps, escalators, several entrances and exits. One certainly wants to view it from different perspectives but regardless of where you stand, one experiences an omnipresent, Orwellian unease. After the initial (overwhelming) experience of the powerful quotations in large block text (in both English and Dutch), seeing George Orwell’s name and the iconic smiley/sad face emoticons, I started to process that this was a ‘site-specific installation’ by Kruger, originally created for the Stedelijk in 2010. A placard accompanying the piece explained ‘wall wrap’ as advertising jargon to describe large-scale prints covering walls and floors in public spaces, like airports or shopping centres. This is the third time her immersive work has been installed in the museum. Each variation is made to fit the architecture of the new space. Copyright 2018 George Orwell Studies Vol. 3, No. 1 2018 135 Kruger often employs pithily ironic quotes, questions and paraphrases in her art to challenge and stimulate the viewer. Along with Orwell, the notebooks and writings of French philosopher Roland Barthes inspired much of this particular work. The text, in Dutch and English, on the floor and walls, is either black on a white background or in reverse, as are the smiley/sad face emoticons. Kruger frequently uses red borders around black and white images or text in red or on a red band. This particular piece emphasises FOREVER, written in white on a green background. Intriguingly, each step on a staircase has a line commencing with IN THE END and a different ending, including: ANGER FADES LIES PREVAIL YOU DISAPPEAR ANYTHING GOES ALL IS FORGIVEN ALL IS FORGOTTEN NOTHING MATTERS HISTORY HAPPENS YOU WIN OR YOU LOSE YOU’VE HAD YOUR CHANCE A few examples of her more well-known provocations in other works include ‘Your fictions become history’ and ‘I shop therefore I am’. It is clear why Kruger is so widely recognised for her socially aware, conceptual art that both uses and challenges traditional gallery spaces. This installation is awe-inspiring as well as disturbing and one wants to linger in the space, interacting with the artwork, such is the curious power of the experience on the viewer. Kruger is effectively selling ideas, rather than consumer products, employing corporate advertising techniques. CONTEXT According to the director of the Stedelijk Museum, Beatrix Ruf: The display system allows an open route through the space in which visitors are invited to create their own parkour. The space is articulated through self-standing walls, encouraging versatile interactions between the art works on display. The traditional room-to-room museum experience is turned into a quasi-urban experience where every turn of a corner is a new discovery. In this way, Ruf communicates her vision for the space which helps to understand why this art gallery is so stimulating. Ruf understands 136 Copyright 2018 George Orwell Studies Vol. 3, No1 2018 that the way we gather information via the World Wide Web has transformed how images are consumed. The Stedelijk is designed to permit individuals to ‘move freely through the space’ permitting amazing new combinations. Merging different disciplines, side by side, permits the visitor to make new connections emotionally and intellectually. As Ruf adds, this approach to curation allows ‘people who are new to art to discover how modern art and design evolved and allows seasoned art-lovers to experience the Stedelijk’s world-famous icons in a new context’. It was evident within fifteen minutes of entering the museum that there was an energetic, sophisticated curation at work. Ruf is correct in her belief that this new approach makes the Stedelijk ‘a living, dynamic institute that manoeuvres between past, present and future’. Kruger’s Orwell-inspired piece is a perfect representation of this philosophy. REVIEW REFERENCES Stedelijk.nl. (2018). STEDELIJK BASE opens. Available online at https://www. stedelijk.nl/en/news/stedelijk-base-opens, accessed on 7 July 2018 The Art Story.org (2018) Barbara Kruger overview and analysis. Available online at https://www. theartstory.org/artist-kruger-barbara.htm, accessed on 7 July 2018 Copyright 2018 George Orwell Studies Vol. 3, No. 1 2018 137