Ceramic Intervention on the V&A facade

First published by the Victoria & Albert Museum

Ceramic intervention on the V&A façade By Carrie Reichardt and the Treatment Rooms Collective, 2014

The intervention on the steps and façade of the Museum was made in response to the exhibition Disobedient Objects. It reflects the idea of a people’s history of art and design from below, and it invites us to consider activist social movements as a significant part of our culture.

Quotations inserted between the steps represent the voices of activists and political thinkers, from 19th-century anarchist Emma Goldman to an anonymous slogan on a 1970s badge. On either side of the entrance, two ‘ceramic posters’ collage images of protest in Britain, past and present. They intentionally cover over an inscription commemorating the inauguration of the building by the ‘Empress and Emperor of India’ (Victoria and Albert). The contemporary scenes are autobiographical, and represent actions that Reichardt, her friends and family were involved in.

Reichardt describes herself as an ‘extreme craftivist and renegade potter’. The intervention was made over a short, intense period and mobilised the skills of a collective of mosaic artists.

Made by the Treatment Rooms Collective: Luke Allen, Gary Drostle, Mark Drostle, Eoghan Ebrill, Linda Griffiths, Gabrielle Harvey-Smith, Liam Heyhow, Peter Henham, Kevin O’Donohue, Carrie Reichardt, Thayen Rich, Sian Wonnish Smith, Cerdic Thomas, Liam Thomas, Karen Wydler, Mark Wydler

With Thanks to Heraldic Pottery