Call for a Demonstration
On a sunny June morning a group of 20 or so political activists, most of them aged around five years old, were busily painting sad faces on cardboard and writing ‘More Art in Hove!’ on banners. Once done, they adjusted their ‘call for a demonstration’ sun hats and took to the streets to insist – while carefully looking both ways – that their demands be met: the building of a Museum of Contemporary Art in Hove, a seaside town an hour or so from London.
The children had rallied in response to Swedish artist Annika Ström’s call-to-arms. She recently moved to the community with her 5 year-old son Stellan and was dismayed to discover that there was no local art museum; her visits to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk in Denmark were highlights of her childhood. So, she plastered posters around town that asked: ‘Are you around 5 years old and want to join this demonstration? Do you think it’s weird that Mum and Dad never do fun things like paint and draw just because they are older than primary school age? Why they never talk about pictures or sculptures? Now is your chance! Call Stellan’s mum’.
Many children responded. In a workshop Ström organised at the non-profit Meta space, she asked them what they would like to see included in a gallery. Replies included a bakery, a periscope and rooms devoted to rockets, telescopes, unicorns and waterfalls. A compromise was reached. A redevelopment of Hove’s King Alfred Leisure Centre is being planned, so why not include a gallery within the complex? The children now had a focus. All they had to do was take to the streets.
As the straggling group of diminutive provocateurs made their way through a pedestrian plaza, bemused shoppers paused mid-latte to marvel at the sight of earnest youngsters waving banners with the energy that is the preserve of those under ten. However, political activism can be tiring, especially if you’ve missed your nap. Demands gradually underwent a shift: the children wanted drink, food and lavatories, NOW. No matter: they had made their point. Then, as if heeding the May ‘68 cry of ‘beneath the cobblestones the beach’, revolutionary spirits were rejuvenated by a paddle in the sea and the discovery of real crabs hiding in rock pools.
