A recording of the "What We May Also Do" written by Oliver Bennett in response to Anna Sebastian's exhibition of the same title. Staged at Verdurin in July 2024.

A woman approaches the gate of a walled city. Her admission depends on the depth of her moral liberation and embrace of boundless self-determination. A border guard assesses her character for its fit with the city’s society. In a series of interrogations, a charged relationship develops between the supplicant and her assessor. The process ultimately tests their belief in the system.

Bennett’s play develops a theatrical language that responds to Sebastian’s work and engages with the psychoanalytic ‘Gloria’ films which also inspire the paintings. It challenges contemporary attitudes to sex, religion, and power by exposing liberal values upheld by flawed individuals.

Written and directed by Oliver Bennett

Performed by Oliver Bennett and Kristin Milward

Verdurin - exhibitions, events, store

Information about the play and cast

Anna Sebastian's exhibition at Verdurin

Recording: Cameron Lee and Aimee Armstrong

Who do you turn to at the brink of the apocalypse? What might help us to mitigate the financial, commercial, political, social, and cultural collapse for which we may be heading? 

Museums and Societal Collapse proposes an unlikely hero in this narrative. Robert Janes’ text explores the implications of societal collapse from a multidisciplinary perspective and considers the potential museums have to contribute to the reimagining and transitioning of a new society with the threat of collapse.

Arguing that societal collapse is underway, but that total collapse is not inevitable, Janes maintains that museums are well-positioned to mitigate and adapt to the disruptions of societal collapse. As institutions of the commons, belonging to and affecting the public at large, he contends that museums are both responsible and capable of contributing to the durability and well-being of individuals, families, and communities, and enhancing societal resilience in the face of critical issues confronting our species.

• The Museum COP at Tate
• Museum pressure groups: The Empathetic Museum, Museum as Progress, Museum Human.
• The Australian Museum’s mission statement
• Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh
• Museum of Homelessness
• Horniman Museum

Robert R. Janes is an independent scholar whose work draws on his many year’s experience as a museum director. He is the editor emeritus of the Museum Management and Curatoriship journal, a visiting scholar at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, and the founder of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice. He is the author of multiple books on the social role of museums.

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Museums and Societal Collapse
The Museum as LifeboatRobert R. Janes

Published by Routledge, 2023
ISBN 9781003344070

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can sign up for my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/newsletter/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Artists Remake the World puts forward an account of contemporary art’s political ambitions and potential. Surveying such innovations as evidence-driven art, socially engaged art, and ecological art, the book explores how artists have attempted to offer bold solutions to the world’s problems.

Simoniti systematises the perspectives of contemporary art as a force for political and social change. At its best, he argues, contemporary art allows us to imagine utopias and presents us with hard truths, which mainstream political discourse cannot yet articulate. Covering subjects such as climate change, social justice, and global inequality, Artists Remake the World offers a philosophy of contemporary art as an experimental branch of politics.

Vid Simoniti is a Lecturer in Philosophy of Art at the University of Liverpool. He is the co-editor, with James Fox, of Art and knowledge after 1900.

• Ryan Trecartin, P.opular S.ky (section ish), 2009
• My conversation with Fuller and Weizman on Forensic Architecture and Investigative Aesthetics

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Artists Remake the World
A Contemporary Art ManifestoVid Simoniti

Published by Yale University Press, 2023
ISBN 9780300266290

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can sign up for my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/newsletter/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Support my work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/support/