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Protest camp now £90,000 Tate show
By Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard 15.01.07
State of play: Mark Wallinger with his Tate replica of Brian Haw's anti-war protest
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In the five years since Brian Haw started his one-man political protest in Parliament Square against Tony Blair's foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has been called many things.
Nuisance. Courageous critic. Nutcase. But never, until now, has he been called a work of art.
He has now - and in Tate Britain of all places. His makeshift shelter has been re-created by former Turner Prize nominee Mark Wallinger for a 40-metre art installation entitled State Britain.
Wallinger has meticulously reconstructed Haw's peace camp, replicating hundreds of banners, photographs, messages and peace flags.
From the cobbled-together tarpaulin shelter and tea-making area to the messages of support and hand-painted placards, everything that went to make up Mr Haw's Parliament Square den has been painstakingly reproduced by Wallinger for his installation.
The majority of the artefacts copied in State Britain are in the possession of the police who dismantled all but three metres of Mr Haw's wall of banners and flags last May. The installation spans the length of Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries. Wallinger has marked a line on the floor throughout the building, positioning State Britain half inside and half outside the border.
Wallinger lives and works in south London and represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001. He is previously best known for Ecce Homo, his life-size marbled-resin sculpture of Christ that occupied the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999. The artist spent more than £90,000 re-creating the contents of Haw's shelter. His determination to re-create Haw's display extended to scouring charity shops to find teddy bears which wore T-shirts carrying slogans such as "Bear-faced liar" and "Un-bearable."
Mr Haw, a former carpenter, began his protest in June 2001 following economic sanctions against Iraq. His protest has continued round the clock ever since.
Wallinger got a brusque rebuff from Mr Haw when he first approached him with the idea nearly two years ago - but his persistence paid off. Mr Haw said: "Mark didn't piss off when I told him to, he's a man after my own heart. A brother and a friend. I knew I could trust him.
"It's an incredible 40 metres of everything that has been stolen by the police. Mark had the artist's eye and the instinctive knowledge that it should be re-created. He took photographs of the display just before the police came.
"It's a piece for humanity to show the rest of the world that we are also human - they could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given Tony Blair and George Bush.
"I'm hoping people who see State Britain will think, 'Did they really have to take it away? Did this disrupt the life of the community?"
State Britain is the latest in a series of contemporary art exhibitions held in the Duveen Galleries. Previous modern artists to have held installations there include Richard Long and Richard Serra. Tate Britain claims the exercise has political as well as artistic significance.
A spokesman said: "In bringing a reconstruction of Haw's protest before curtailment back into the public domain, Wallinger raises challenging questions about issues of freedom of expression and the erosion of civil liberties in Britain today."
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Reader views (2)
I am a law student who lived in London in 2005. Mr. Haw's idiosyncratic and deeply profound demonstration left an indelible mark on me, and I was dismayed when the Metropolitan Police dismantled his display under the ridiculous, insulting, and draconian Serious Organized Crime and Police Act.
My only criticism of the installation at the Tate Britain is that it is mere yards outside the SOCPA exclusion zone. While moving the Tate Britain might be a bit difficult, making the technicality therefore forgivable, this little irony does to underscore what is truly artful: Mr. Haw's brave dedication to his peaceful cause.
- Geoffrey King, Stanford, CA
Brilliant, I love it. Saved for posterity this art born out of misery. This is worthwhile. It will continue to embarass and ***** our consciences. Whenever I saw the original I hated it but was so glad it was there and that someone had the stamina and guts to sit outside the houses of parliament for years reminding us all of the consequences of this war in our names. Good work Mr Haw and Mr Wallinger.
- David, London
