"The Materialisation of Persuasion": Modernist Exhibitions in Britain for Propaganda and Resistance, 1933 to 1953

《劝说的物化：1933至1953年间英国宣传和抵抗的现代主义展览》调查了从战后到战后英国为宣传和抵抗而发展的展览。展览是这个项目的核心，目的是影响或说服，以想法，而不是对象，作为中心焦点。这个项目的关键是设计师们共同分享的一种愿景，即将这样的展览视为积极和参与的“示范”，是一种挑衅行为，而不是被动的观众所看到的“展示”，主要是作为展示商业、贸易、工业或艺术成果的平台。这一愿景最初的灵感来自于在俄罗斯和德国举办的展览，并为早期英国福利国家的视觉语言提供了信息。该项目将特别注重由国际艺术家协会(AIA)从1933年起和信息部从1940年起举办的一系列展览，旨在激发人们的希望和自豪感，并向人们传授新的技能。作为速记，这些可以被描述为“宣传”或“信息”展览，尽管这些标题的复杂性和矛盾将在本项目中得到解决。这些展览是由米莎·布莱克(Misha Black，1910-1972)、F·H·K·亨利翁(F.H.K.Henrion，1914-1990)、詹姆斯·霍兰德(James Holland，1905-1996)、米尔纳·格雷(Milner Gray，1899-1997)和理查德·莱文(Richard Levin，1910-2000)等设计师组成的网络设计的，他们都在1933年起的20年间从事展览工作，是相互联系的个人、专业和活动人士网络的成员，其中许多人是逃离纳粹威胁的新来者。AIA艺术家-成员包括当时许多最重要的英国艺术家：亨利·摩尔(1898-1986)、埃里克·吉尔(1882-1940)、奥古斯都·约翰(1878-1961)、凡妮莎·贝尔(1879-1961)和保罗·纳什(1889-1946)；而信息部的展览司聘请了著名的现代主义建筑师弗雷德里克·吉伯德(1908-1984)和彼得·莫罗(1911-1998)。这项研究将把几十年来在英国周围和其他地方举办的宣传展览联系起来。他们是由一个扩大的设计师网络安装的，对他们来说，团队工作是合作和集体信念的重要体现。它将断言这是英国现代主义中一个关键但基本上被忽视的元素。具体的案例研究将包括自1934年以来在AIA举办的各种展览(例如，1939年在白教堂美术馆举办的艺术为人民和1943年在伦敦炸弹现场举办的自由)；1937年巴黎世博会的和平馆；1937年的现代建筑集团(或火星)展览；毕加索在英国各地的格尔尼卡巡回展，包括1937年至1938年的汽车陈列室；帝国展览，格拉斯哥，1938年(特别是米莎·布莱克的装置艺术)；1939年纽约世博会的英国馆；1942年的援助俄罗斯；信息部在查令十字地铁站等地点举办展览，1940年至1945年在英国各地的商店和乡村礼堂巡回演出；1946年由中央信息办公室举办；英国可以制造它，维多利亚与阿尔伯特，1946年，(特别是设计研究单位的装置)。这个项目还将利用一手和二手资料，比较同一时期欧洲和北美举办的其他展览的风格、内容和思想动力。《劝说的物化》的主要成果将是：一本题为《现代主义、宣传和公众：1933-1953年的英国展览》的专著；一本共同编辑的散文集《超越边界：1945年以来作为跨国交流的艺术和设计展览》；一篇注重方法的期刊文章；以及一部探索这一时期英国宣传展览并评估其今天意义的纪录片。

'"The Materialisation of Persuasion": Modernist Exhibitions in Britain for Propaganda and Resistance, 1933 to 1953' investigates exhibitions developed for communication of propaganda and resistance from the inter- to the post-war period in Britain. The exhibitions that are central to this project were intended to influence or persuade, with ideas, not objects, as the central focus. Pivotal to this project is a vision, which the designers shared, of such exhibitions as active and participative 'demonstrations', as acts of provocation, rather than as 'displays' seen by a passive audience, primarily acting as platforms for displaying the fruits of commerce, trade, industry or the arts. This vision was initially inspired by exhibitions held in Russia and Germany and informed the visual language of the early British welfare state. This project will focus, in particular, on a range of exhibitions developed by the Artists' International Association (AIA) from 1933 and the Ministry of Information from 1940, intended to inspire hope, pride and to teach the populous new skills. These can, as shorthand, be described as "propaganda" or "information" exhibitions, although the complexities and contradictions of these titles will be addressed within this project. These were mounted by a network of designers including Misha Black (1910-1972), F.H.K. Henrion (1914-1990), James Holland (1905-1996), Milner Gray (1899-1997) and Richard Levin (1910-2000), all of whom worked on exhibitions during the two decades from 1933 and were members of interlinking personal, professional and activist networks, many of them recent arrivals fleeing the Nazi threat. AIA artist-members included many of the most significant British artists of the time: Henry Moore (1898-1986), Eric Gill (1882-1940), Augustus John (1878-1961), Vanessa Bell (1879-1961) and Paul Nash (1889-1946); while the Ministry of Information's Exhibitions Division employed celebrated Modernist architects Frederick Gibberd (1908-1984) and Peter Moro (1911-1998). This research will connect propaganda exhibitions held across a range of locations around, and beyond, Britain during these decades. They were mounted by an extended network of designers, for whom group-work was an important manifestation of a belief in collaboration and collectivity. It will assert this as a key, but largely overlooked, element in British Modernism. Particular case studies will include various AIA exhibitions mounted from 1934 (for example 'Art for the People', 1939 held at Whitechapel Art Gallery and 'For Liberty', 1943, held on a London bombsite); The Peace Pavilion at the Paris World Fair, 1937; The Modern Architecture Group (or MARS) exhibition, 1937; Picasso's Guernica touring sites around Britain including a car showroom, 1937-8; Empire Exhibition, Glasgow, 1938 (in particular installations by Misha Black); the British Pavilion at New York World's Fair, 1939; Aid to Russia, 1942; Ministry of Information exhibitions mounted in sites such as Charing Cross Underground Station and travelling round Britain to shops and village halls from 1940-45; and by Central Office of Information from 1946; and Britain Can Make It, V&A, 1946, (specifically installations by Design Research Unit). Drawing on primary and secondary sources, this project will also make comparisons of the style, content and ideological impetus of other exhibitions mounted across Europe and North America during the same period.Major outputs of "The Materialisation of Persuasion" will be: a monograph entitled 'Modernism, Propaganda and the Public: Exhibitions in Britain 1933-1953'; a co-edited essay collection 'Beyond Boundaries: Art and Design Exhibitions as Transnational Exchange from 1945'; a methodologically-focused journal article; and a documentary film exploring British propaganda exhibitions during this period and assessing their significance today.