Brian Eno and Danny Boyle help form new social justice collective Hard Art
Spearheaded by the tireless mind of Brian Eno, 150 artists, including filmmakers and musicians, have banded together to form a new think tank called Hard Art. The organisation has been created in order to foster conversations around climate change and social justice within the world of art.
The foundations of the organisation were formed last year, when Eno invited industry leaders to his London studio. Discussions are said to have covered everything from alternative economics to the fight for climate justice. According to the organisation, these meetings came as a result of, “the realisation that people in all parts of society are working for the change our world so urgently needs, but are often doing so in siloed isolation”.
Speaking in a video posted to the Hard Art organisation website, Eno shared the early inspiration for the group, saying, “It started out as an attempt to deliberately engineer a coalescence between lots of different activists and thinkers in different areas,” adding, “who probably wouldn’t have met unless they’d met at my studio.”
Those who are currently on board the Hard Art project include but are not limited to, artists such as Jeremy Deller, Cornelia Parker, Gavin Turk and Clare Patey, in addition to film-makers like Danny Boyle and even Yancey Stickler, who founded the crowd-funding website Kickstarter.
After informally founding the organisation in Eno’s studio, Hard Art have now released their first works. Their first product was the Jeremy Deller-designed zine entitled The Work WE Need To Do, a 24-page publication essentially detailing the manifesto of the organisation.
Since that publication, Hard Art has wasted no time in getting their message out there. In February, the group organised The Fête of Britain at Aviva Studios in Manchester. The four-day event celebrated Britain’s history of resistance and the need for change in the modern era, supported by figures like Jon Ronson, Commoners Choir, and hip-hop star Louis VI, among many others.
Their latest work comes in the form of an open letter in response to the acquittal of nine women who were on trial for protesting with Extinction Rebellion at the headquarters of HSBC. Current signatures include the likes of Andrea Arnold, Thom Yorke, Stewart Lee, Emma Thompson and Helen Pankhurst among many others.