Dozens of protesters blocked entry to the gallery for guests of the ceremony, linking arms and chaining themselves to the gallery gates. Guests were forced to climb over the wall with the assistance of security in order to enter the gallery.
Naomi Polonsky
Naomi Polonsky is a London-based curator, art critic, and translator. She studied at the University of Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art and has experience working at the Hermitage Museum and Tate Modern. She has written for the Times Literary Supplement and The Calvert Journal. Follow her on Twitter @NaomiPolonsky
Posted inArt
The Colorful Waves Generated by Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School
Artists in postcolonial Casablanca created a specifically Moroccan form of Modernism, merging the influences of Pop art and Hard-edge painting with the rich tradition of abstraction in Berber craft and architecture.
Posted inNews
Activists Return to the British Museum to Lead Another “Stolen Goods” Tour
During the event, speakers called for the repatriation of objects acquired through colonialism and an end to sponsorship from the oil company BP.
Posted inNews
Environmental Activists Stage Die-In at Tate Modern, Evoking “Colony Collapse” of Bee Populations
Around 100 activists, led by Extinction Rebellion, rode around the city on bikes as part of the “Critical Swarm,” and then collapsed in front of the Tate Modern to symbolize the death of bee colonies.
Posted inNews
Climate Activists Staged a Die-In at London’s Natural History Museum
Beginning on April 15, activist group Extinction Rebellion has staged protests and acts of civil disobedience in central London locations, leading to over 1,000 arrests.
Posted inArt
Kader Attia’s Work Holds a Mirror to the World’s Injustice
Attia links seemingly disparate things and gives them new meanings by mining history, politics, literature, religion, art, anthropology, and medicine to find echoes everywhere.
Posted inBooks
A Book Argues for Dada’s Russian Origins
Unlike its Western iteration, Dadaism in early twentieth century Russia was closely allied to political revolution.
Posted inNews
Former National Gallery Art Educators Win Workers Rights Tribunal
The judge ruled that the group should be classified as “workers,” a role which entitles people to more rights than freelance contractors but fewer than full-time “employees.”
Posted inBooks
The Modernists Marginalized Under Colonialism
Mapping Modernisms points us to the unequal way in which Western Modernist art histories characterize influence between cultures.
Posted inNews
Protesters Demand London’s Goldsmiths University Stops Outsourcing Workforce
Over 100 protesters showed up to campaign for the rights of outsourced security staff.
Posted inNews
Hundreds Attend Guerrilla, Activist-Led Tour of Looted Artifacts at the British Museum
Performance troupe BP or Not BP? organized a “Stolen Goods Tour” at the British Museum, where activists of Australian Aboriginal, Iraqi, Hawaiian, Māori, and Greek Cypriot heritage called for the repatriation of looted artifacts in the museum’s collection.
Posted inArt
The 2018 Turner Prize Focuses on Video Art in Political Times
The 2018 edition of the provocative prize is dedicated to digital art, exploring queer identity, racial violence, and the Israel-Palestine conflict through video art.
