House to Home: Bringing Parliament and people together
Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament
12 July - 20 August
Modern Art for the Political Soul
The Hansard Society's Parliamentary exhibition House To Home
brings a large visual question mark to the idea of getting involved.
At least they're trying.
'This space is about changing a mindset' reads a tall, stocky white billboard that encircles a wide, yellow runner. Most people stare up at this section of the House to Home exhibit with some sort of quizzical expression: they have just walked under a hot pink inflatable bridge bearing indicative remarks from dissuaded voters, and it seems hard to tell whether this is some modern art extravaganza, or an overzealous attempt at getting British voters involved. Maybe it's both.
After having their bags scanned and their bodies patted down, visitors stumble into a duo-video slideshow, presented on exceptionally wide and thin projection screens, where the quirky and clever remarks of MP's are heard over, on one side, the explanation of parliament's structure and, on the other side, dramatic parliamentary events.
Afterwards, visitors can wind through the pink inflatable bridge, stare up at the circular billboard, and vote on whether smoking should be banned in public places, and to what extent. They can also write comments (to the question of whether one is eager to express oneself to Parliament) on yellow post-it notes, and stick them up for all to see. 'Yes!', 'There were never any bombs!', 'F*** the Government!', 'The Lord reigns!', and 'I like Sarah!', to quote a few.
What is most interesting is that a fair few of the visitors are not able to vote in Britain: swarms of teenage Americans in high school groups, Spanish tourists and children with sore feet and ice cream stains leave their blessings of 'Anarchy Rules!' 'Hable español! Es el idioma del mundo!'
Still, while House to Home might be far from reaching its projected audience, the disgruntled bleeding liberal who still manages to care about Parliamentary procedure, a complimentary booklet inspires the hope that perhaps Parliament really does care, that maybe Britain really is trying to uphold a democracy. Plus, for people like me, who wonder about the wigs, the House of Lords and who exactly stands for whom, this exhibition serves as a gigantic, exorbitant visual aid for the lessons missed in primary school.
- Megan Retka
