a/political presents Silent Coup, a new body of work by British artist Peter Kennard (b. 1949), based on a revelatory new book of the same name by investigative journalists Claire Provost and Matt Kennard, launching concurrently. The project marks the father and son duo’s first creative collaboration.
Double Exposure (2023) meshes market data and flashing images to present a time-based photomontage that uncovers corporate profit normally hidden from sight. As visitors enter the space, they will encounter two long lines of printed newspapers that recount the day’s share prices. A montage of weaponry, climate breakdown and, war victims will be projected for a few seconds before moving on to another paper. Boardroom is a series of anonymous faces mounted on large-scale wooden boards salvaged from the East London streets around Kennard’s studio. Their mouths are replaced by projected logos of major corporations – Shell, BP, BAE Systems – that appear as gags stifling the voices of democracy.
“This new work is concerned with finding ways to show the rise of corporate power, how it encroaches into every pore of our being as well as the Earth itself. The work tries to rip through the veil of share price listings and corporate logos by showing the results of profit at all costs - poverty, war, state violence, climate catastrophe.”
- Peter Kennard
The exhibition will run 18 May- July 1 2023, Tues - Sun 10am - 6pm, at a/political, The Bacon Factory, 6 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AA.
