Book Chapter

The Post-Traditional Art Museum in the Public Realm

Walsh, Victoria, Dibosa, David, Dewdney, Andrew

2013

Overview

The year 1981 marked a historical watershed in British culture and society. In January of that year, a devastating fire took hold of a private party in New Cross, South London, claiming the lives of 14 black teenagers. As angry protests followed the tragedy, frustrated by the lack of police interest in claims of arson, the Conservative politician Enoch Powell, declared on 28 March that England was on the verge of 'racial civil war'. In April, the two-year-old Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, announced major cuts and reforms to the public sector and official figures recorded the highest unemployment in 50 years at 2.5 million. On 10 and 12 April, major riots broke out in Brixton, South London, home to a predominantly African-Caribbean community, and an area defined by poor housing, high unemployment and high levels of street crime which police were tackling through an undercover street campaign named Operation Swamp 81.

• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 0415606004, 9780415606011, 9780415606004, 0415606012