Pretty Pollytics
Made for HOST - Re-inventing the Museum, curated by Mario
Rossi Hastings Museum and Art Gallery Shown shortly after
the 2001 general election
Three animatronic toy parrots sit in a row, they are
identical except that each one has a small coloured rosette
pinned to it’s breast. Facing the parrots, at close
proximity, are a pair of tannoy speakers. Every now and
then the speakers produce a short pronouncement, which the
parrots then repeat back enthusiastically, becoming more
and more garbled as the message becomes distorted in the
process. After 45 seconds or so they fall silent until the
next pronouncement. The pronouncements consist of short
pledges or policies relating to museums and art galleries
drawn from the manifestos of the three main political
parties, there is a balance between the source parties, and
the voice is that of a generic campaigning politician
rather than an identifiable individual. Given the
similarity of the party manifestos, the origin of many of
the statements remains ambiguous. The piece highlights the
bland sameness of the major British political parties, and
mimics the braying, unthinking repetition we are so used to
hearing and seeing on televised debates from the house of
commons.