To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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Visual protest survives and inspires
Two free exhibitions on social and political dissent at the V&A museum are well worth a visit, says Christine Lindey
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
The issues addressed in the major exhibition Disobedient Objects at the V&A are as big as they come. They range from calls for peace, ecological balance and colonial liberation to campaigns for sexual, racial and gender equality to struggles against apartheid, capitalism, austerity, nuclear weapons and dictatorships.
On show are works from the late-1970s to the present, ranging from high-tech computer games to low-tech badges and pamphlets to hand-crafted banners, placards and giant puppets.
These objects of dissent are fashioned from materials as varied as a tear-gas mask from a recycled water bottle, foam and elastic bands and the “Flone” — a DIY open-sourced drone powered by a mobile phone.
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BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright