Bold Tendencies is a not-for-profit creative enterprise and arts organisation that has been based in Peckham, South East London since 2007 and is located on the disused top four floors of the municipal car park. Every year it commissions temporary and permanent works of art to form a summer sculpture park.

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‘Ewa Axelrad's long-standing interest in the dynamics of public disturbance has resulted in a number of reactionary works addressing this powerful contemporary subject. Her new sculpture, Let’s go. Yes, let’s go. (The do not move) references Trafalgar Square, an iconic London meeting point associated with global gatherings and protests. Situated on the roof of the multi-storey car park, Axelrad’s work directly interacts with Richard Wentworth’s Agora which was commissioned by Bold Tendencies in 2015. Both artists stress the importance of a discourse between art and its local environment and community. Axelrad was inspired by a conversation she had with Wentworth which discussed how urban spaces and decisions are made in order to control public movement and prevent public unrest. Interestingly, in London there is no central square which could accommodate such a protest.

The sculpture in Peckham can be read as a surreal, abandoned site encountered in an unexpected place but also as an enforcement of the agora, wherein visitors can meet, sit and socialise. The lions at Bold Tendencies are transformed from a monument of triumph and power into domesticated big cats guarding a broken barricade. The work represents the artist’s sense of public disillusion with protests and widespread doubt in their ability to generate real change. The title, taken from Beckett, connects the installation to a theatre stage, the protest acted out therefore, a futile public spectacle.

Axelrad chose cinefoil – a thin black aluminum that is normally used to shape lighting in theatre and film industries - to make the installation fragile and impermanent, creating a clear contrast with the sculptures in Trafalgar Square. Cinefoil was also selected due to the sound it makes in the wind and rain, as well as its tendency to crumple and naturally weather in appearance giving the work a tired, time-worn character.’

text by Bold Tendencies

Please note, the silver painting on the ground is the work by Richard Wentworth, the hair wigs on the lamp posts are a piece by Isaac Olvera
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Let’s go. Yes, let’s go. (They do not move), 2017
site-specific installation, Bold Tendencies, London
black aluminum foil, mixed media, 3 x 15 x 16m