Activists
Artists held a demonstration in London on Thursday after the Design Museum hosted an event for a defense contractor. Credit: Tom Jamieson for The New York Times
By Alex Marshall
Aug. 3, 2018
LONDON — Just after 11 a.m. on Thursday, a group of about 20 artists, many wearing black despite the searing sun, arrived at the Design Museum in London with an unusual aim: to remove their art from an exhibition.
Their works appeared in “Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18,” a show that traces the recent history of activist art and design, starting with Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” poster from Barack Obama’s first presidential election campaign, through to a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
The artists were upset that the Design Museum had rented its atrium to Leonardo, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies, for a drinks reception in July. Many of the artists in “Hope to Nope,” including Mr. Fairey and Milton Glaser, the designer behind the “I ♥ NY” logo, expressed shock when they learned about the reception, and asked for their works to be removed from the museum. On Thursday, the group arrived to check that this had happened, or to do it themselves if necessary.
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