As a Major Military Weapons Fair Descends on London, Artists Are Mounting a Challenge—and One Plans to Infiltrate

Many of the world’s arms dealers and weapons makers will gather
in London next week for a vast and lucrative trade fair. The artist
Jill Gibbon could be there too—undercover.

Gibbon has infiltrated defense industry events for the past
decade. “The freebies are extraordinary,” she tells artnet News.
Once they included a candy in a black wrapper with the message:
“Welcome to Hell.”

Now, a print featuring the macabre candy, as well as Gibbon’s
on-the-spot sketches of the buyers, sellers, and the hardware on
offer, are highlights of an extraordinary exhibition and charity
auction in London, the proceeds of which will go toward campaigning
against the arms trade. More than 70 international artists have
contributed work to the second edition of “Art the Arms Fair,”
including Shepard Fairey, Anish Kapoor, the Guerrilla Girls, Hito
Steyerl, as well as the veteran British political artist Peter
Kennard.

Meanwhile, in East London, where the 2019 Defense and
Security Equipment International fair will take place, around 50
people have been been arrested as they attempt to stop the tanks,
planes, drones, and missiles from arriving. The peaceful
demonstrations during the arms fair’s set up have been largely
overlooked by the media as the battle rages in parliament between
Boris Johnson’s beleaguered government and MPs opposed to his “do
or die” plan for Britain to leave Europe by October 31.

The protest exhibitions and talks being held across four venues
in Peckham, South London, aim to raise awareness that the world’s
largest arms fair is taking place in the city. Artists and
performers hope to challenge the industry and expose its human cost
through art, comedy, and music, culminating in the charity auction
on Friday. September 13.

In a statement, Kapoor condemned the arms trade and its
“conscience free sale of barbaric weaponry to all corners.” The
British artist calls it a “vile trade.”

Inside the Arms Fair ‘Bubble’

Gibbon, who is a senior lecturer in graphic arts at
Leeds Beckett University in the North of England, says that
visiting an arms fair is a surreal experience. She describes a
string quartet playing Handel and Mozart on the back of a military
truck while hostesses hand out champagne and gifts. “[Fairs] are a
bubble. It is all about the products and investments,” she says.
“The human targets are invisible.”

Among the hardware on sale are weapons designed to be used
against civilians. Products like tear gas used to be called “non
lethal,” says Gibbon. Now, they are euphemistically called
“less-lethal weapons,” Gibbon says, pointing out that protesters in
Bahrain have died from the effects of the chemicals.

Invited countries include Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which a
United Nations panel of experts have accused of war crimes in the
Yemen. A spokesman for the activist group Campaign Against Arms
Trade says that the guest list for the arms fair also includes
regimes that abuse human rights. He points out that Saudi Arabia
has used UK-made fighter jets and bombs used against civilians in
the Yemen.

Gibbon says that she has been able to document arms fairs under
cover, including one memorable event in Abu Dhabi, partly because
she is a woman. “The defense industry is very white and male and
the fairs are very gendered, but companies are trying to get more
women on their boards,” she says. Wearing a uniform of a “suit and
pearls” helps, as does the fact that “arms fairs are full of shady
people who are not what they seem,” she says.

While Gibbon will be trying to visit incognito, representing a
fake business, three members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet are due to
attend the arms fair as VIPs. The event takes place with the
support of the UK government. Such is the importance of the
industry to the British economy, it is unlikely that even the
Brexit political crisis will keep them away.

“Art the Arms Fair,” September 3 through September 13,
Maverick in Peckham, South London, various venues. 

The post As a Major Military Weapons Fair Descends on
London, Artists Are Mounting a Challenge—and One Plans to
Infiltrate appeared first on artnet News.