Exhibit 8
Exhibit 8 is our public-led exhibit, in which the end piece is a montage created by visitors to the exhibition.
All the exhibits within the Ruin and Rebuild exhibition encouraged visitor participation; Daniel’s ‘Salvage’ allowed visitors to select waterlogged items from a fish tank; and, Alexandra’s ‘Here was Our House’ invited visitors to rifle through a suitcase brimming with archival finds. However, I wanted there to be an exhibit that did not only encourage engagement but would enable visitors to leave the exhibition feeling like they had added to the art, had their voices heard, and contributed to the event.
Exhibit 8 sees the creation of a montage on a large white piece of paper. The final piece is a large collage of the words RUIN and REBUILD overlapping red and green. The piece is a response to the question that frames this exhibit: Does Donald Trump’s “making America great again” rhetoric invoke ideas of ruin or rebuild? Ultimately, Exhibit 8 documents how the ideas of ruination and rejuvenation intersect with politics and ideas of how political upheaval can influence how we perceive cultural and communal ruination and rejuvenation. Alongside the rhetoric “make America great again”, visitors were asked to contemplate an excerpt from Trump’s CPAC speech (2017) and a series of statements on the economy, immigration, jobs, the presidential campaign of 2016, the White House, and urbanisation. The speech and some of the statements are included below for viewing.
The video on the right explains the development of the idea.
Quote from the film: “The resulting ‘word-art’ is a jumble of conflicting terms, overlapping, layered, and confused. The product of over 100 participants, this collage demonstrates an intimate connection between two words often viewed as binary terms. When Trump speaks of making America great again, he suggests the country has experienced ruination and that the new administration will provoke a time of rebuild. However, for many of the participants stamping their views on this mural, ideas of building a wall was not demonstrative of building but rather a sign of deterioration.”
Designed by Dr Grace Halden
Ruin/Rebuild
