Institute of Contemporary Arts: 6 July – 26 September
2021
Photograph: Robert Croma
While War Inna Babylon was
originally scheduled to open in May 2020 – the delay due to Covid-19 – has
inadvertently made this the most timely exhibition it could possibly be.
In light of events
over the past year, that have shown how little value is placed on Black lives –
the Covid-19 Public Health England Review, BLM demonstrations, the Sewell
washout, the increased use of police violence, and stop and search procedures
against members of the Black community – we view this as the perfect time to
focus on grassroots activism in Black frontline communities across the UK;
which have been at the forefront of resisting state oppression and creating
unfounded change for racial justice since the 1970s.
– Stafford Scott, co-Founder of
Tottenham Rights
The Institute of
Contemporary Arts reopens on July 6th with War Inna Babylon: The
Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights, an exhibition curated by
London-based racial advocacy and community organisation, Tottenham Rights,
Kamara Scott and Rianna Jade Parker.
Ten years on from the
UK-wide riots sparked by the police killing of Mark Duggan, this exhibition
shines a light on the vast range of collective actions, resistance and
grassroots activism undertaken by Black communities across the U.K in response
to over seven decades of societal and institutional racism.
Using the ‘symbolic
location’ of Tottenham, a neighbourhood that has received much attention in
recent years due to its history of racial conflicts and heavy-handed policing;
this exhibition combines archival material, documentary photography, film and
state-of-the art 3D technology to ‘act as a window to the past and as a mirror
for our present-day social climate’.
War Inna Babylon will chronicle
the impact of various forms of state violence and institutional racism targeted
at Britain’s Black communities since the mass arrival-upon-invitation of West
Indian migrants in the late 1940s.
The exhibition will
include original tributes from victims’ families, case studies of the
controversial 'sus’ (suspected person) laws and the Gangs’ Matrix and
highlights legal developments that have resulted from Black justice
campaigns.
War Inna Babylon will also
present a new investigation into the killing of Mark Duggan by Forensic
Architecture
The exhibition, the
first of its kind to accurately assess the conditions of Black lives across
Britain, will be accompanied by an extensive public programme presented both in
Tottenham and at the ICA that will include film screenings, community
educational groups, talks, cultural events, performances, and a digital
presentation focusing on the interrelation between artificial intelligence (AI)
and racism.
Tickets will be available later in June.
https://www.ica.art/exhibitions/war-inna-babylon
