As part of traditional Mayday actions, artist and writer Alana Jelinek made a series of poetic art interventions across various sites in London and one in Cambridge starting at 7am on Friday May 1st.
Canary Wharf photographer Kristian Buus
Unilever Cambridge photographer Kristian Buus
Tate Modern photographer Kristian Buus
'Capital Growth' is the name of the series of six oil paintings placed at various locations to symbolically highlight and challenge the various norms within capitalism.
The exquisitely painted, representational, birds-eye views are of highly evocative corporate spaces including the London Stock Exchange, the London Metals Exchange, the Lloyds Building. One painting is the notional headquarters of BLACCXN 'metacorporation' linking this series of paintings 'Capital Growth' to past artwork by Alana Jelinek that also explores and critiques globalization. See www.BLACCXN.com
Paintings are floor-based and were laid out sculpturally in an x-mark, using 9 squares measuring in total 3m x 3m. They were left to the elements, the police, or art lovers in each of the sites. Locations were Tate Modern (7am), Ministry of Defence (9am), Science Museum (10am), Canary Wharf (2.45pm), The Olympic site (3.30pm) and Unilever Science Building of Molecular Informatics, Cambridge (5.45pm).
At Tate Modern, the painting of the boardroom of the London Stock Exchange was seen, created from research gleaned from a visit supervised by the head of security at the Stock Exchange. The Ministry of Defence was the site for a painting of the London Metal Exchange, the last traditional exchange in London where people in suits use arcane hand gestures to buy and sell metals, minerals and plastics as commodities and thereby setting base-line prices for manufactured products. The second floor of the Science Museum with its BP sponsored exhibition, 'Energy', and sections devoted to maritime innovation was the site for the painting of Lloyds of London, potentially reminding viewers of the connection between shipping, the history of insurance, commodities and the beginnings of empire and capitalism. The Olympic site on the Greenway became the site for the 'BLACCXN' headquarters, sponsors of the sponsors of the Games. Canary Wharf and Cambridge boasted the remaining two London Stock Exchange locations. Canary Wharf was the site of the computer room hub of the London Stock Exchange and the Unilever building in Cambridge, the building's foyer.
Being Mayday, Canary Wharf was heavily policed but members of the Canary Wharf 'community' sunning themselves at the small patch of grass in Westferry circus had the pleasure of seeing the Stock Exchange arrive. One white collar worker for BP Canary Wharf remarked on how similar his office was to that of the Stock Exchange. Other locations received the interventions differently. The MoD were clearly waiting for the display of such painterly insurrection and duly videoed each of the participants in turn. The inhabitants of Stratford on the other hand seemed to take it all in their stride, while the Science Museum staff clearly had better things to do than police the ships section.
Each of the paintings had the artists name, the title and a contact email address so that any authorities (or anyone else for that matter) could contact the artist for further information. As the ultimate commodity, the aesthetically pleasing oil paintings were left on Mayday for anyone who wished to claim them.
The exquisitely painted, representational, birds-eye views are of highly evocative corporate spaces including the London Stock Exchange, the London Metals Exchange, the Lloyds Building. One painting is the notional headquarters of BLACCXN 'metacorporation' linking this series of paintings 'Capital Growth' to past artwork by Alana Jelinek that also explores and critiques globalization. See www.BLACCXN.com
Paintings are floor-based and were laid out sculpturally in an x-mark, using 9 squares measuring in total 3m x 3m. They were left to the elements, the police, or art lovers in each of the sites. Locations were Tate Modern (7am), Ministry of Defence (9am), Science Museum (10am), Canary Wharf (2.45pm), The Olympic site (3.30pm) and Unilever Science Building of Molecular Informatics, Cambridge (5.45pm).
At Tate Modern, the painting of the boardroom of the London Stock Exchange was seen, created from research gleaned from a visit supervised by the head of security at the Stock Exchange. The Ministry of Defence was the site for a painting of the London Metal Exchange, the last traditional exchange in London where people in suits use arcane hand gestures to buy and sell metals, minerals and plastics as commodities and thereby setting base-line prices for manufactured products. The second floor of the Science Museum with its BP sponsored exhibition, 'Energy', and sections devoted to maritime innovation was the site for the painting of Lloyds of London, potentially reminding viewers of the connection between shipping, the history of insurance, commodities and the beginnings of empire and capitalism. The Olympic site on the Greenway became the site for the 'BLACCXN' headquarters, sponsors of the sponsors of the Games. Canary Wharf and Cambridge boasted the remaining two London Stock Exchange locations. Canary Wharf was the site of the computer room hub of the London Stock Exchange and the Unilever building in Cambridge, the building's foyer.
Being Mayday, Canary Wharf was heavily policed but members of the Canary Wharf 'community' sunning themselves at the small patch of grass in Westferry circus had the pleasure of seeing the Stock Exchange arrive. One white collar worker for BP Canary Wharf remarked on how similar his office was to that of the Stock Exchange. Other locations received the interventions differently. The MoD were clearly waiting for the display of such painterly insurrection and duly videoed each of the participants in turn. The inhabitants of Stratford on the other hand seemed to take it all in their stride, while the Science Museum staff clearly had better things to do than police the ships section.
Each of the paintings had the artists name, the title and a contact email address so that any authorities (or anyone else for that matter) could contact the artist for further information. As the ultimate commodity, the aesthetically pleasing oil paintings were left on Mayday for anyone who wished to claim them.
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