The Politics of Looking (2019)

Manchester Art Gallery, as part of Get Together and Get Things Done exhibition (Manchester, UK)

A collaboration between SCUM, SNITCH, Black Haine’s All Choreographers are Bastards and Art History B Sides.

In September 2019, a terrifying sight descended upon the top floor of Manchester Art Gallery. A group of thugs, some with shaved heads, some with balaclavas, proceeded to beat each other up, spit on floors, rip up transcripts and threaten gallery visitors with piercing stares as a shrieking noise screeched throughout the room and original Manets were left swinging off the wall.

The Politics of Looking is a collaborative performance, lecture and musical composition organised by the collectives SCUM, SNITCH and All Choreographers are Bastards, as part of the Get Together and Get Things Done exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery which showcases democratic and politically transgressive art in light of the anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre.

This performance attempts to break down the formalities of a conventional academic lecture, and proceeds after a series of talks from the alternative lecture series Art History B-sides. The piece reacts to the British Conservative Minister for Culture, Nicky Morgan, stating that the arts have no use or purpose within contemporary British society. Through violence and confrontation, those involved explore themes of exploitation, objectification and colonialism in historical paintings situated at the gallery, how cities are owned as aesthetic landscapes by elite classes in response to increased gentrification in areas such as Salford, and the artistic construction of the politicain’s public images.

Written by: Ella Jo Skinner

Art direction: Ella Jo Skinner and Alice Maia Swift

Choreography: Black Haine and All Choreographers and Bastards

Musical Composition: Thomas Sullivan

Performers:

Lydia Mac

Hannah Sullivan

Jake Wyatt

Klaudia Khalouf

Maisie Lee

Zoe Barry

Photography: Ste Fletcher

Film: Patrick Barklamb