Postlandlordism slogan scarves

Description

Artefacts entitled: Postlandlordism slogan scarves; All Housing Is Social, There Is No Housing Shortage, Only The Monopoly of Property, No Landlords! No Rent!, Homes Not Property. Knitted acrylic, two sided football scarves, sizes variable, wooden frame, clips. This artwork was originally commissioned for the ‘Housing Question’, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, 2018.

Abstract: Borrowing from the material culture and partisanship of football, the Postlandlordism slogan scarves pitch statements contesting the market-led housing system in the UK. The scarves are props that ask viewers to agree or disagree, and if they agree, to then embody those ideas and values by holding, wearing, waving, speaking or even chanting the slogan. The slogans scarf can be photographed as selfies with images to be kept or shared with others, so to pass them on.

Slogans are used here as triggers for debate, and as a means of co-publishing ideas on contemporary society and culture. This artwork is an example of Hewitt’s research practice in which he explores arts social function through articulating its role as a type of opinion formation in the public domain.

Andy Hewitt was a member of the Freee art collective from 2004 until 2018, with Dave Beech and Mel Jordan. In 2018, Hewitt (with Jordan) formed the Partisan Social Club (PSC) with the aim to operate as a contingent collective with multiple identities which assembles members through specific projects. The PSC develop participatory works and co-learning initiatives to make language-based artworks, publishing their ideas to each other and to audiences via exhibition making as printed matter, objects or on digital platforms.

Period	25 Jun 2024
Event title	University of Northampton Annual Research Conference 2024 STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY: Supporting a cross-disciplinary research culture
Event type	Conference
Degree of Recognition	Regional