THOUGHT ON POVERTY, POWERLESSNESS & THE RIGHT TO VOTE
An audience participation project for exhibition at Potfest
by Lorraine Bates & Jo Stant
Circa 2018
Theme set by Potfest organisers... "Strange Fruit" - Bowl "Strange Fruit" was Abel Meeropol's poetic response to the lynching's of mainly black men, but also women, native Americans, and many migrants. I was surprised to learn that those victims were free and had the right to vote in America at the time of their murders. Their de facto position was very different with numerous barriers to voting and the power it might have offered. ~This year has seen the commemoration of the first step in Women's rights to vote and has influenced my designs for the museums and art galleries with whom I work. The rise of "me to" and equal pay movements has highlighted that the rights of women still has a way to go. ~ This year has also seen the dawning of the predicted power of big data in our voting system ~2018 also saw UK pilot schemes to enforce the showing of ID before one is allowed to vote ~Some of the "Empire" migrants still don't have the right paperwork to ensure their democratic rights in the UK ~Migrants and asylum seekers continue to make perilous journeys to more democratic, peaceful or prosperous countries and their arrival is now rarely met with welcome. ~Modern slavery takes many forms but is still with us in the nail bars of my local shopping centre. In practice democracy, and the freedom it is supposed to secure, is a moving target and can be fragile. Maybe the theme that runs through this argument is not about race, gender, nationality, social standing or any type of perceived "otherness" but simply. The Abuse of Power Over Those Less Powerful. And maybe the mistake we make about democracy is to take it for granted. A Bowlful of Potential Power? OSTRACISM & THE ANCIENT GREEK "JUDGEMENT OF THE POTSHERDS" The Right To Review Those In Power Ostracism, in a nutshell, was the 5th Century annual Athenian juridical practice in which a powerful and potentially dangerous person could be exiled from the city and denied influence without loss of their property or civil right. All citizens of every rank were given the right to vote for an individual who had displeased them in public life. The names would be written on broken pottery or "Ostraca" and dropped into a pot for counting. If any one name on the Ostraca exceeded the quorum that person would be ostracised from the city for a period of up to ten years to consider their position. If you had the chance to curtail the real world and algorithmic power of an *individual, who would it be? [*N.B. Due to the nature of modern power bases I will also allow companies & institutions] No public or political office, no website, no tweets... No Influence whatsoever A time to reconsider whilst keeping their private position, money and property, and maybe (as often happened) to eventually return. The ancient Greek logic was that a lesson would be learned by all in the consequences of overreaching power.
PLEASE PLACE YOUR VOTE TODAY
WRITE THEIR NAME ON THE POTSHERD AND PLACE IT IN THE BOWL. If you like you can also note the reason for your vote, as originally done in Classical Greece. The history of human endeavour has always been archeologically documented through pottery fragments and your marks will be fired onto the sherds; a permanent comment on our times. [I have not decided where the finished piece will go, if you have ideas let me know.. lorraine@woodsetton.co.uk. #woodsettonpots] N.B. In the ancient world (and my studio) broken pottery was the equivalent of the post it note; ubiquitous and cheap. POSTSCRIPT - The Greeks continued their annual ostracisms for only 70 years when the practice fell into disuse over fears of vote rigging. The Greek version of our Big Data and algorithms was the selling of pre-written Ostraca to illiterate citizens. Twas Ever Thus!
This was a past Potfest;
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