#WorldsUpsideDown
11 March – 2 April @ Firstsite, Colchester

Riots. Revolts. Revolution. All flashing moments which throw the world – and our relationship with it – in question. From the uprising against the Russian Czar one hundred years ago to the Arab spring and protests against war, austerity and the continuing failure of politics as usual, people have pinned their hopes on radical political change, on turning worlds upside down. But all too often the ever-renewed dream of changing the world for the better has ended either in failure or has been crushed.

This pop up exhibition, for three weeks only, explores these moments of destabilization, crisis, and renewal. Included are Cairo based Mosa’ab Elshamy’s photographs from the 2011 – 2013 revolt in Egypt, the Justseeds’ Celebrate People’s History poster series, and David Mabb’s ‘Long Live the New! Morris & Co, Hand Printed Wallpapers and K. Malevich’s, Suprematism’. Each communicates or represents moments of upheaval. How do these histories resonate with each other? What can we learn from them? What might they say to each other? And how might they say it today, as political communication shifts from print materials to digital and social media?

#WorldsUpsideDown Event Series
Tuesday March 14th & Wednesday March 15th, from 1PM
Riotous Epistemology, a two day open and participatory ‘philosophy from below’ seminar and discussion with Richard Gilman-Opalsky & Stevphen Shukaitis

Friday March 17th @ 7PM
Screening of Maggots and Men, a gender bending utopian re-envisioning reworking of the Kronstadt Uprising of 1921, and discussion with David Mabb of thematic overlaps in his work.

Tuesday March 21st @6PM
Film screening and participatory game playing with Class Wargames, avant-garde movement of artists, activists, and theoreticians using ludic activity to explore revolutionary politics and strategy

Saturday March 25th @1-3PM
Screening and discussion with and artist and film maker Zoe Beloff