The aim of this page will be to start to collate and link the hundreds of images of work I have made and collaborative projects I have undertaken mainly with others fighting for housing justice. The main outline of my proposed research is in the proposal and this page is intended to function as an appendage.
Here is a video interview with arts and political theory writer Mike Watson, offering an in-depth discussion of this practice and its connection to grassroots socio-political movements.
Recent Impact
The work of Focus E15 and the art work appears at 17:40 into the BBC News Round documentary on the housing crisis, This art work is either made by me from conversations with those in the campaign or people attending our weekly street stall, and I have been devising structures for meaningful collaboration (see main proposal) :-
Newsround Special No Place to Call Home
Film shot of recent street puppet performance which took place at the above even-
My work used in Guardian again:- Of course it is brilliant that it is being used as an image to highlight the housing issue .
One of the questions I would investigate is the ethics surrounding authorship of artworks, and the urgent need to find ways to acknowledge contributions and prevent creative activist work from being used out of context. Obviously this is a good use of the work, the question here is how just using the work uncredited also really helps enable people using art in these settings to continue and create a collective culture where it is easier to connect to others involved in this kind of work.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/04/uk-failure-to-build-social-homes-shocking-says-author-of-2004-report-kate-barker
Other articles in the press showing the impact of the work:-
Who will speak out for those hammered by housing benefit cuts?
UK failure to build social homes ‘shocking’, says author of 2004 report
‘Those two weeks felt how the world should be’: the young single mums who took on the housing crisis – and won
This is a good article giving insight into the Focus E15 Housing Campaign with the founders of the campaign.
One of the photo’s where a painted banner is used that visually breaks down the campaigns method of organising. It is credited as ‘banner designed by Andrew Cooper’ this is the first time they have credited the work and was done so after being contacted by the campaign. The banner actually evolved with me painting on the street during our street stalls.
THIS LINK TAKES YOU TO AN EVOLVING SLIDE SHOW
Summary of scope public Interactions using my Art Practice
Public interactions involving my art have taken 3 forms which interlink-
1.Work developed through collaborative action, as part of a political campaign. Since 2014 I have been organisng weekly street stalls using my art with people. I now do this as an active member of the Focus E15 Housing Campaign. The street is turned into a temporary exhibition space in which work is placed on street furniture like phone boxes and pavements. This is a developing exciting area that I want to explore.
You can see more information here
One development was a puppet show about housing dispossession-
2.Work which seeks to provide an engagement with Marx’s Capital. The illustrations function as a way of ‘putting the ideas on the table. This work has been presented in gallery settings such as the Bergen Assembly 2019 and BAK in Utrecht, 2013, as part of the Capital Drawing Group. However, the best places for the work have proven to be political meetings which connect to more people experiencing the adverse effects of capitalism the work deals with. These include meetings in Tenants halls and Sylvias’ Corner with the Focus E15 Housing Campaign.
3.Work which creates events and environments. This started with creating a room from carvings of parts of furniture and has been shown at the Five Years Gallery as The Muttering cavern of Domestic Delights (2010). In this room regular performances with puppets took place. The idea has been extended to include a Ghost Train ride set up in a disused shop and a fair ground as part of Brockwell Park Festival 2014. In these spaces I project films which include animations many of which relate to dwellings and housing insecurity.
Lectures and Symposiums
4th March-21st May 2023- Recorded Interview about my practice and sculpture in an exhibition looking at social class and art. ’Poor things’, curated by Dean Kenning and Emma Hart at the Fruit Market Gallery in Edinburgh.
Published book, Poor Things
ISBN 9781908612670
2015, ‘The Elephant in the Room’, Social Class and the Art World- Royal College of Art. Talk and presentation Curated by Mike Watson
https://artreview.com/preview-elephant-in-the-room-talks-london-rca-open-school-east-2015
2012, Towards and Avant-Gardist Conception of Gallery Education, Tate Modern with Dean Kenning (Artist), Anna Cutler (Director of Learning at Tate) Presentation about the public gallery I set up at Morpeth School (2007-2017)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14714787.2013.816536
2011, Tower hamlets Visual Art Symposium-Artists Schools and Galleries, ‘What Next?’, Whitechapel Gallery
Published Work and Illustration
2023- Poor Things Incudes interview and photographs of different aspects of my practice.
ISBN 9781908612670
2019, Carta(s). Exile/Refuge Published by Reina Sofia. Illustrations- PDF- https://issuu.com/museoreinasofia/docs/carta_s__exilio._ingl_s.imprenta
2017 How Come? Comic dealing with Capitalism and Housing Swindle – Mutton Fist Press https://24hoursinthesky.bigcartel.com/product/how-come-by-andrew-cooper
2017, Illustrations and essay- ‘Art and Class Struggle’, Five Years Publications:
ISBN 978-1-903724-11-8
PDF
http://www.fiveyears.org.uk/archive2/pages/189/Public_Series/FYPS/FYP5-web.pdf
2013, Capital Drawing Group (Illustration), A New Haven Journeyman. Expressing the Voice. London:
Eleusinian Press ISBN-10 : 1909494038
2011, ‘The Utopian Promise of Government ‘[Cover and article]. Radical Anthropology Issue 6 (ISSN 1756-0896 (print)
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Andrew Cooper Unseen 