Art on the Streets
Art on the Streets is a new documentary created by design historian Dr Harriet Atkinson and filmmaker Jane Dibblin with Four Corners.
The film focuses on the exhibition For Liberty, created by the anti-fascist artists’ collective, the Artists International Association, in 1943. This audacious show was mounted in the bombed-out John Lewis store on London’s Oxford Street, to demonstrate the values people were fighting for. It follows some of those who took part - Oskar Kokoschka, Peter Laszlo Peri, Betty Rea and designer F. H. K. Henrion - many of whom were refugees fleeing Nazi europe.
Art on the Streets explores art’s role in providing a voice and a platform in the midst of conflict, themes which resonate today with audiences all over the world.
The film is part of an AHRC research project ‘The Materialisation of Persuasion’ by Dr Atkinson of the University of Brighton, which investigates how exhibitions mounted from 1933 to 1953 in public spaces communicated messages of propaganda and resistance.
Winner 'Best Short Documentary' at California International Shorts Festival, Winner 'Best Short Documentary at Lulea International Film