Last week saw the launch of artist Robert Montgomery’s expo, ‘It turned out this way, cos you dreamed it like this’ at Hoxton’s KK Outlet. Montgomery’s work deals with themes of social and political spectacle, and the call for liberation of perspective.
The works were inspired by the Situationist Manifesto of 1960 and feature poetic messages of inspiration and hope as a response to today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Plastered across advertising space, the works refer to the continued alienation experienced in society through media, politics and discrimination. The use of billboards questions ‘who owns the city?’, a nod to the Paris uprising of May 1968.
May 1968 refers to a period of discontent at class discrimination and political bureaucracy in French Society. Conflicts led to marches and protests, and iconic images of the time depict the use of paving slabs and upturned cars as barricades. It was the anarchic graffiti of this period that inspired the Situationist movement.
One of the most iconic slogans of the period was, ‘sous le paves, la plage’ (underneath the paving stones, the beach). Montgomery comments that this phrase particularly inspired his work. The political alignment of the May 1968 protesters is difficult. Slogans such as this seem to refer to a mentality of the time that capitalist bureaucracy was society’s downfall. Beneath the industrialised, money focused city, lies its core values. Beneath the capitalist paving stones lies utopia.
From the self titled exhibition, one piece reads; “It turned out this way cos you dreamed it this way, cos all you could dream is what you saw in magazines, and this is how it feels to win, and have everything, all the luxury and power you ever wanted and still feel disgusted.“
Much as the spirit of May 1968, this work aims to remind us that money and power do not spell worth. Plastic, unattainable goals inspired by the media are spectacle. Instead of reaching for these, we should consider the solid, attainable truths and values in life.
Robert Montgomery, ‘It turned out this way cos you dreamed it like this’, KK Outlet, Hoxton Square is on now until 25 February.
