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cover of episode Harriet Atkinson, "Showing Resistance: Propaganda and Modernist Exhibitions in Britain, 1933-53" (Manchester UP, 2024)

Harriet Atkinson, "Showing Resistance: Propaganda and Modernist Exhibitions in Britain, 1933-53" (Manchester UP, 2024)

2025/3/15
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Harriet Atkinson
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Morteza Hajizadeh
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Morteza Hajizadeh: 我主持了对Harriet Atkinson新书《Showing Resistance》的访谈，该书探讨了1933年至1953年间英国现代主义展览如何被用作政治宣传和抵抗的工具。我特别关注了政府在利用展览进行宣传中的作用，以及展览作为回应政治事件和社会问题的媒介的作用。 Harriet Atkinson: 我专注于设计行动主义的历史研究，特别是政府与设计互动的方式，以及设计在宣传和抗议中的运用。这本书源于我对2016年英国脱欧公投和特朗普当选后学生们对街头抗议视觉文化的兴趣。我研究了1933年至1953年间英国的现代主义展览，因为这段时期见证了极端政治运动的兴起，以及艺术家团体对展览作为政治宣言形式的探索。这段时期也标志着展览作为大众传播形式的兴盛，最终被电视取代。 我分析了政府如何利用展览来宣传民族认同、贸易目标和政策，这些展览通常在非传统的场所举行，例如村庄礼堂、火车站售票大厅和工人食堂。这些展览不仅传达信息，还通过视觉效果、叙事技巧和幽默感来吸引公众，制造共识。 此外，我还探讨了展览如何成为现代主义宣言的载体。艺术家团体利用展览来宣传其艺术和建筑理念，例如1936年的国际超现实主义展览和现代建筑研究小组的展览。这些展览通过与媒体互动，获得了广泛的关注。 展览也成为政治辩论的平台。例如，1938年格拉斯哥帝国展览及其反驳展览“工人帝国展览”，展示了展览如何被用来表达不同的政治观点。反帝国主义活动家和艺术家挑战了展览作为展示霸权力量的工具的传统观念，并将其作为表达不同观点和组织抗议的平台。 二战期间，展览被用来激发爱国主义和提供实用信息，例如关于种植食物和缝补衣物的展览。战后，展览继续被用来宣传国家卫生服务、就业机会和经济复苏。 总的来说，展览在1933年至1953年间发挥了重要的沟通作用，但随着电视的兴起，其作用逐渐减弱。然而，展览仍然可以作为表达集体痛苦和希望的媒介，例如2017年格伦费尔塔火灾后的展览。艺术家们仍然拥有通过展览来传达思想和促进公众参与的权力。 supporting_evidences Harriet Atkinson: 'I'm particularly interested in my work in histories of design and democracy, the way that governments engage with design, the way that design is used for propaganda and indeed for protest, etc.' Harriet Atkinson: 'And there was such a kind of outburst, a kind of a kind of visual response on the streets around me, around us...' Harriet Atkinson: 'Well, I think, yeah, the timings are very... specific for a reason...' Harriet Atkinson: 'Well, as I say, within the kind of context of the authoritarian states developing in Europe, Italy, Germany, Spain...' Harriet Atkinson: 'yes so this is um one of the things that i find really striking is is the way in which um' Harriet Atkinson: 'Yeah, so I talk about in the book about exhibitions as multiple manifestos in their own right...' Harriet Atkinson: 'So were their ideas challenged? Yes...' Harriet Atkinson: 'Yeah, there were two very distinct ways in which exhibitions were used in the British Second World War context...' Harriet Atkinson: 'Yes, absolutely...' Harriet Atkinson: 'That's such an interesting and complex question...'

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How did exhibitions become a vital tool for public communication in early twentieth century Britain? Showing resistance reveals how exhibitions were taken up by activists and politicians from 1933 to 1953, becoming manifestos, weapons of war and a means of signalling political solidarities.

Drawing on dozens of examples mounted in empty shops, workers’ canteens, station ticket halls and beyond, this richly illustrated book shows how this overlooked form was created by significant makers including artists Paul Nash, John Heartfield and Oskar Kokoschka, architect Erno Goldfinger and photographer Edith Tudor-Hart.

Showing Resistance: Propaganda and Modernist Exhibitions in Britain, 1933-53) (Manchester UP, 2024) is the first study of exhibitions as communications in mid-twentieth century Britain

Harriet Atkinson is AHRC Leadership Fellow and Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Design at University of Brighton

Morteza Hajizadeh) is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channel). Twitter).

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