TEXT : ALISA MILCHEVSKAYA
REVOLTORSOCIALHALT
IN THE LAST HALF A CENTURY , BRITISH CULTURE HAS BEEN GALVANISED BY THE ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT YOUTH REBELLION MOVE- MENTS . ALISA MILCHEVSKAYA SETS OUT TO FIND WHETHER ANY OF THEM STILL REMAIN TO THIS DAY AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR IN THE CURRENT ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CLIMATE .
The mod teddy boy ’ s greasing up the skinhead starting on the flower power hippy trying to keep up with the acid house raver stealing Mcat from the street corner chav about to knife the punk who just accidentally sprayed him with his canister too distracted looking at the skater ’ s sick flow through the graffitied street aligned with posing pissed off hipsters . All mass underground movements . All fiery individuals alight a passion for change , to have a voice , an opportunity . To rebel . Throughout the last decades what made Britain so British was the anti-establishment stance of it ’ s youth . The teenage rebel has been a central part of culture and has dictated , given birth to and pushed creativity and eventually the mass market . But where are they today ? I set out in search for individuals who stand for their intrepid view of the world and against the social and political hierarchy .
NEON HOUSE
M & C Saatchi recently asked Neon House , Daero Ra and Adrian Law to create an installation for the House of Peroni and the outcome was a new-age DJ booth which opened the door to a neoteric form of interaction between the DJ and his audience . The booth was home to resident DJ Alessio Natalizia who threw his beats out from within the steel cube frame wrapped by two kilometres of fluorescent nylon string . The neon glow of the string rocketed the booth into a ‘ space-age ’ feel , coinciding with it ’ s futuristic , innovative concept which combines sound and movement into one . The structure is reminiscent of modern pop-up , open-space architecture which encourages interaction by reducing walls and boundaries and bestowing the visitor with power to control their environment . The relationship between the DJ and his audience has grown and developed from the all-night dance parties to Jack Your Body and Strings of Life to the M25 congregations where ravers took over and blasted their electronic sounds over quiet suburban towns and to today ’ s dark , undiscerning underground maze that is Fabric where the location of the tap water man is the only thing anyone ’ s really sure of . Music for the DJ is a tool to converse with his audience , to set the mood and to provoke a reaction which usually materialises itself in uncontrolled shuffling and arm-jerking . However , the booth in question lets the listener touch the outside strings which in effect create a melody , playing alongside that of the DJ . Is this be the future of clubbing ? Will we soon be the ones dictating the music through our own movement and feelings rather than the other way around ? I spoke to the duo behind the installation to find out .
CECILIA MARI | ILLUSTRATOR
‘ Many people are saying my work looks feminist ’ ‘ blurts out the London-adopted Italian illustrator in her native animated fashion . Who could ’ ve expected a boisterous voice of that magnitude to fit into such a slight frame , ‘ most of my subjects are women - I wouldn ’ t consider myself a feminist . My work is a statement of my personality . I link my creative process to personal satisfaction , creating something that I consider beautiful .’ Certainly she must be satisfied with the spirited collages that appear to reminisce old film stills , renovated by those of current news reports - all intertwined into a moving story which converses a poetic portrayal of the mundane subject of politics .
The move to England two years ago broadened her consciousness of the impact of social establishment , which materialises within most of her pieces : ‘ I like my work to be engaged in the surrounding political and social scenes ’. Ceci , as she likes to be called , bellowed her gallant take on the subject loud enough to be heard and duly featured by the ICP magazine which tracks current developments within global international relations . The harsh reality of the political impact in Britain today is impossible to ignore and Cecilia ’ s take is that ‘ most of the conservatives ’ choices don ’ t mean a positive change for the nation - they are aggravating the social gap between the working and the ruling classes , making the price of life generally higher .’
The hierarchy of politics and the adverse consequences ignite her creative drive . ‘ The political scenery is not so much about left or right . It ’ s much more about the effectiveness of the political choices and it ’ s closeness to people . If everyone had a critical consciousness of what is happening around us then maybe they ’ d take care of the choices that create damage to the world we live in .’ She herself crusaded to raise the said consciousness by joining in protests against cuts to education funding and impelled the public to take action , after all ‘ loud tone and Italian accent can be a winning combination .’ ‘ All these issues are connected and derived from individual choices so to change the world from the basis , I ’ d change the system of information that we have in order to defeat the general ignorance diffused in society .’ - let ’ s hope that the future will be as rosy as David Cameron ’ s soon-to-be blushing cheeks .
I LIKE MY WORK TO BE ENGA- GED IN THE SURROUNDING POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCENE