April 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, a 74 day conflict from which Margaret Thatcher's Britain emerged victorious in a strategic reassertion of colonial power following the post-WWII disintegration of the British Empire. The Falklands victory revitalised the career of Margaret Thatcher and her previously unpopular Tory government in the 1980s and allowed her to press ahead with the devastating structural adjustment that decimated working class communities in Liverpool and across the UK.
In the weeks leading up to the Spectrum exhibition the Falklands had come back to the fore, the Union Jack had been burned by protestors during riots outside the British embassy in Buenos Aires, Prince William had visited the islands on his pseudo-military PR campaign, Britain had started illegally drilling for oil in the contested territory off the Falklands coast and David Cameron had been politically posturing in an attempt to revisit the warmongering glory of his predecessor.
By inviting visitors to share through social media an image of themselves amongst this installation and to take home and display the hand painted signs which made up part of it this project aimed to disseminate the alternative name for the Falkland Islands by which they are known throughout Latin America, Las Malvinas. The installation featured a sound piece and various commercial objects produced by global brands and aimed at raising and thinking through contemporary manifestations of Empire, language, imperialism and resistance.
Further Information:
-Visit the WCS website
-Video tour of the exhibition
-Review in Daily Post