The Bread and Puppet Theatre argues that culture should not belong to the elite but be for everyone The Eclectic Electric Collective made us a cobblestone for the exhibition. This is an issue with this material, because quite often it is destroyed in the process of protest. But is this yet another co-opting of the counter-culture by the establishment? As I arrived, my scepticism was challenged by two panels of ceramic collage flanking the museum’s entrance. Commissioned from the West London artist, Carrie Reichardt, they each depict a protestor holding up a shield decorated to look like a book cover against the baton-wielding figures of riot police with fifty pound notes collaged in their visors. The book-shields bear the slogans ‘History is a Weapon’, ‘Nothing is inevitable, Everything is Possible’ and ‘Power to the People’, ‘Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, Rather it is a hammer to shape it’, and seemed to announce that disobedience was not only possible, but also desirable. A set of stamps designed by artists Ivan Cash and Andy Dao to illustrate wealth disparity in America Disobedient objects were not made with a museum in mind. Nor do they rely on the museum to legitimate them – but this does not mean that they have nothing to gain from appearing here. Before we located them, some of these objects were retired from the street to rest in private lofts or social centre basements. Now they find themselves returned to visible public history. For other objects, their struggles are unfinished, and when this exhibition closes they will return to take their place within them. Whatever our emotional reaction or identification with these unfinished objects, we mostly encounter them for only a brief moment. Perhaps inches from our bodies in a crowd; held by (or holding up) our friends; in news footage of people who could be us; in photographs of days growing distant; or suddenly reappearing in a courtroom. The exhibition of these objects is, in fact, one moment when you might actually spend time with them, right in front of you, able to slowly examine them beside each other. How might this moment of exhibition relate to these other moments, of use by activists, newspaper photographers and so on?

My favourite exhibit is a tiny resistor from a Polish radio, turned into a Solidarnosc badge. A play on the word resistance, it’s also a nod to the radio they communicated with. As with several exhibits, I wondered if this resistor might be better presented in the Science Museum, or at least it would have been interesting to develop the ideas in contexts Quotations inserted between the steps represent the voices of activists and political thinkers, from 19th-century anarchist Emma Goldman to an anonymous slogan on a 1970s badge. On either side of the entrance, two ‘ceramic posters’ collage images of protest in Britain, past and present. They intentionally cover over an inscription commemorating the inauguration of the building by the ‘Empress and Emperor of India’ (Victoria and Albert). The contemporary scenes are autobiographical, and represent actions that Reichardt, her friends and family were involved in. When students in London saw videos of this online, they produced their own book shields and this spread to the US and all over Europe. None of these groups every met, but they felt like they were communicating with each other.Reichardt describes herself as an ‘extreme craftivist and renegade potter’. The intervention was made over a short, intense period and mobilised the skills of a collective of mosaic artists. Disobedient Objects is an exhibition about out-designing authority. Looking beyond art and design framed by markets, connoisseurs and professionals, this exhibition considers the role of social movement cultures in re-making our world from below. Disobedient objects can be ingenious and sometimes beautiful solutions to complex problems, often produced with limited resources and under duress. Working by any media necessary, they may be poor in means, but they are often rich in ends. Weekly updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen Awards

Painted banners and placards featuring humorous or evocative slogans have also been selected. Chilean Arpilleras wall hanging: Dónde están nuestros hijos, Chile Roberta Bacic's collection. Photograph by Martin Melaugh News about our Dezeen Awards China programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates. Disobedient Objects at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London gathers together such items from around the world. Graffiti-spraying drones adapted from remote controlled cars, teargas masks made from water bottles, riot shields fashioned from layered cardboard. It’s a rich collection of remarkable objects that paint a picture of human ingenuity in unlikely scenarios. Dónde están nuestros hijos (“Where are our children?”). Chilean Arpilleras wall hanging, Roberta Bacic collection. Photo: Martin Melaugh QBism’: quantum mechanics is not a description of objective reality – it reveals a world of genuine free will November 15, 2023Grindon understand these complexities all too well, having been deeply immersed in the subject matter as a post-doctoral fellow in visual and material culture at Kingston University. The academic and author came to the V&A specifically to curate Disobedient Objects, and has spent the past two years carefully approaching global activists he already had relationships with, to convince them of this show's importance. The exhibit largely covers a period from the 70s to present day, from lo-fi banners and badges showing how solidarity has a part to play, to DIY opensource drones now used to help film demonstrations or the police. Handmade gas masks were an essential response to police actions during the 2013 mass protests in Istanbul. These events saw the Turkish government release a record amount of tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Protesters devised a way to protect themselves with basic materials like plastic bottles, elastic, and strips of insulation foam. They range from folk art, for example, signs made by people for protest marches to the very high-tech, such as mobile phone-powered drones for filming demonstrations or the police, which you can make yourself very cheaply. Guerilla Girls, the group of women artists who, in 1985, set out to expose racism, sexism and corruption in the art world The design uses the VirusFonts typeface Doctrine – itself a political critique of the North Korea dictatorship. Doctrine’s alternate character set provided a second voice in which to speak the words of activist, artist and maker, a voice which speaks alongside the more conventional museum narrative.

Andy Dao and Ivan Cash's Occupy George overprinted dollar bill, 2011. Photograph: courtesy Andy Dao and Ivan Cash Made by the Treatment Rooms Collective: Luke Allen, Gary Drostle, Mark Drostle, Eoghan Ebrill, Linda Griffiths, Gabrielle Harvey-Smith, Liam Heyhow, Peter Henham, Kevin O’Donohue, Carrie Reichardt, Thayen Rich, Sian Wonnish Smith, Cerdic Thomas, Liam Thomas, Karen Wydler, Mark Wydler Graffiti Writer” is a robot for writing street graffiti, designed by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, USA, 1998. (Photo courtesy Institute for Applied Autonomy) Book Blocs’, shields painted to resemble book covers; a form of protest in themselves as well as a means of defenceThis started off in Italy and was taken up in Britain and America by students who had seen them on social media. Made from scraps of material, these were sold, so provided economic support, and in the act of gathering to make them, the women found solidarity and collective strength. Daily updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen Jobs Weekly made by Ed Hall for “UNITE”‚ which was the biggest march in North West England against the privatisation of the English National Health Service (NHS). (Photo courtesy Ed Hall) Each section panel is printed on a unique material all of which are cheap, mundane and most-importantly used in the making of the objects on show: fabric, stainless steel, cardboard, plastic, tarpaulin and OSB board.