Martin Firrell is a Franco-British public artist long associated with leading Out of Home media company Clear Channel. His works challenge unjust power systems of all kinds,
including patriarchal power, the oppression of women and non-heterosexuals, and the heteronormative status quo. He uses language to engage
directly with the public, provoking dialogue about more equitable social organisation. The
artist's reported aim is 'to make the world more humane'. His work has been summarised
as 'art as debate'.
Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK
4 Tenets for Europe
is the ambitious new public artwork commissioned by Clear Channel Europe from internationally acclaimed public artist Martin Firrell ('The Conscience of the 21st Century' -
International New York Times
).
4 Tenets for Europe
Riga, Latvia
4 Tenets for Europe
appears on billboards simultaneously across 11 European nations in 9 languages on 15th September 2023, the United Nations International Day of Democracy.
4 Tenets for Europe
Utrecht, Netherlands
The first tenet is
Prize the Beauty of Justice Above All Else
. Justice is perhaps the one and only unerringly beautiful aspect of human experience. It is both the root and the fruit of democracy.
4 Tenets for Europe
Warsaw, Poland
4 Tenets
marks 25 years of the artist’s creative association with Clear Channel as well as the artist’s 60th birthday. ‘As that particular milestone approached, I asked myself, what do I really believe to be unalterably valuable and true about life? I came up with just four things - hence the
4 Tenets’ - Martin Firrell.
4 Tenets for Europe
Dublin, Eire
The second tenet is
Look at Life Squarely and Forgive It for What It Is
. This is a paraphrasing of the great modernist novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). Life is something to be lived up to, seen for what it is without illusions, and forgiven for all its faults. Forgiveness fosters kindness to ourselves and to others.
4 Tenets for Europe
Copenhagen, Denmark
The third tenet is
Disobey Any Cruel or Unjust Rule
. Disobedience - especially mass civil disobedience - can provide vital protections for any society subject to inept or wicked government and/or unethical law-making.
4 Tenets for Europe
Aix-en-Provence, France
The fourth tenet is
Be Kind to Trees
. Trees are how we breathe! The fourth tenet echoes the final words of the great French satirical novel
Candide
: 'Cela est bien dit,' répondit Candide, 'mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.’ (‘That's all very well,’ answered Candide, ‘but we must look after our garden.’)
4 Tenets for Europe
Oslo, Norway
'4 Tenets for Europe
demonstrates the power of Out of Home as a medium that can present engaging and timely public art messages at scale, in this instance marking 25 years of public art with Martin Firrell and celebrating the UN Day of Democracy across Europe.’ -
Martin Corke, Clear Channel European Marketing Lead.
4 Tenets for Europe
Helsinki, Finland
‘I like to think of
4 Tenets for Europe
as a birthday present to myself - a recipe for a happier, kinder and better-cared-for world.’ -
Martin Firrell Public Artist.
The Question Mark Inside
2008
Medium
Projection
Displayed
St Paul's Cathedral, November 2008
The Question Mark Inside
asked theologians, scientists, artists, atheists,
and the general public, 'What makes your life meaningful?' Wildly diverse answers,
from the domestic to the sexual to the sublime, were projected onto the Dome, West Front and Whispering
Gallery to mark the cathedral's 300th anniversary.
sun not despair (schematic)
2008
sun (in arabic)
2008
what makes life meaningful
2008
I Don't Think This Is What God Intended
2008
The Taking of Christ (Carravagio)
c.1602
A kiss
2008
Organised Religion Makes Me Uneasy
2008
A Nail
2008
The road to freedom (after Willa Cather)
2008
Design for st Paul's shop paper bags
2008
Life reaches out to life (arabic)
2008
Artist's maquette for test projections
2008
What Oppresses Us
2022
Medium
Digital & Paper billboards
Displayed
UK, July-August 2022
The Gallery is a new kind of cultural institution, serving the four nations of the UK. It has no walls to hold the artworks in, or to keep anyone out. The Gallery's first season invited 10 artists to respond to the words 'Straight White Male'.
What Oppresses Us
quotes French feminist theory of the 1970s, suggesting the oppressor controls all aspects of the oppressed's psyche including what is considered erotic or desirable.
is a series of five public artworks created to mark UK Pride’s 50th anniversary on 1 July 2022. The artist invited LGBT+ networks and their allies to contribute what they felt were the most important issues facing the LGBT+ community in the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s.
The 1970s
2022
The 1980s
2022
The 1990s
2022
The 2000s
2022
The 2010s
2022
Dada 105
2022
Medium
Digital billboards
Displayed
Basel and Zurich, Switzerland June 2022
Dada 105
marks 105 years since the publication of the first Dada Review in Zurich. The artworks magnify flaws like tears, uneven inking and foxing in the original Dada pamphlets. The texts re-state aspects of Dada philosophy for our times now that the calamity of war has returned to Europe.
Cancel Nationalism
2022
Art Cannot Submit
2022
Reason Is a Hoax
2022
Power Is Always Temporary
2007
Medium
Projection
Displayed
Royal Opera House, July 2007
Power Is Always Temporary
explores the transient nature of power through the opera-like, but real-life, experiences of jealousy, infidelity and violence in the lives of women.
In a military conflict, women and children are particularly at risk.
They'll Find You Nude
describes the disruption of domestic
life and the ever-present risk of violence or uninvited sexual attention experienced by one woman during a military coup.
'Cod Wars' broke out between the UK and Iceland in 1972 - the same year the UK's first Gay Pride march took place. To herald UK Pride's 50th anniversary year,
Cod Wars Turned Me Gay
lampoons the idea, prevalent in the 1970s, that someone could be turned gay, in this case by the sight of burley trawlermen in dispute over fishing rights.
New legislation, allowing TV companies to broadcast during the day, was passed in 1972 - the same year the first Gay Pride march took place in the UK. To herald UK Pride's 50th anniversary year,
Daytime TV Made Me Lesbian
satirises the ludicrous idea, common in the 1970s, that someone could be turned lesbian, in this case by the sight of glossy daytime TV presenters.
Radical Lesbian feminists of the 60s and 70s suggested there was only one way for a woman to escape
male control: embrace lesbianism as a political rather than a personal act. Feminists argued this would undermine the social structures
that traditionally place men at the top of the social hierarchy.
Anti LGBT+ propaganda from the 1960s is re-edited to lampoon its message that
homosexuality is a mental disorder. The artist reverses the roles of the two main characters so it is the
young hitchhiker whose 'illness' prompts him to take advantage of a wholly reasonable and friendly
driver.
the artist is re-stating a
demand originally made by gay activists in the 1960s. This, and five other demands from gay liberationists, were presented nationally by the artist to mark
the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales.
Lesbian activists of the 1960s characterised aggressive dominant male behaviour
as sub-human or monstrous.
By lampooning patriarchal power, they aimed to lessen its impact and embolden people from all walks of
life to renounce gender-based oppression.
Activists from the Gay Liberation Front argued that the oppression of women and gay men was a
by-product of rigidly enforced gender roles. They noted, for example, that the gender role of masculinity was linked historically with domination,
oppression and violence.
A 1947 public information film advises young people how to be popular, largely by conforming to conventional
gender roles and parental authority. The artist reorganises the material to subvert the heteronormative assumptions of the film's
narration, queering the protagonists so that the 'boy meets girl' story takes a distinctly different turn.
is a play on a protest placard made by human
rights campaigner Peter
Tatchell for 1973's London Gay Pride. The artist's large-format digital billboards commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the
Gay Liberation Front in the UK by stressing that the struggle for full LGBT+ equality is not yet over.
When radical feminist theorist Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol, the newspaper
headline read
Andy Warhol Shot by Actress.
The reporting was
lazy and inaccurate. Here, the artist corrects the historical news story, at the same time shifting the main point of reference from Warhol to Solanas. He refers to Solanas by
her full name, reflecting her importance as a key figure in radical feminism and relegating Warhol to anonymous target, albeit describing him accurately
as an
To Understand A Thing Fully Is To Be Able To Say Nothing About It reflects on the nature of understanding and knowledge. Also titled 'L'Éloquence du Silence', the artwork implies that silence must inevitably fall when understanding exceeds the expressive capabilities of language.
A 1946 public information film warns against the concentration of media power into a few hands,
and the dangers of censorship. Simultaneously, the artist's reorganisation of the material (and addition of subliminal elements)
subverts any possibility of control or censorship.
is the artist's response to Trumpism, Brexit and the populist movement.
The artworks recall the key tenets of hippy philosophy as an antidote to troubled times.
The Earth's Crust
2020
War Is Coming
2020
Computers Control Opinion
2020
Telepathic Transit
2020
Super Consciousness
2020
Alice B. Toklas
2020
Self Portrait (on Fire Island)
2021
Medium
Colour gif from 16mm film
Whether or not this is an image of the artist is difficult to determine. It seems more likely that
Self Portrait (on Fire Island)
is intended as an ironic comment on the
modern idea of the selfie, body consciousness and the LGBT+ community.
Curator Barbara Ulbrist surveys the art of Martin Firrell focusing on the years 2018-2020. During this time the artist displayed 40 different artworks on billboards across the UK bringing his particular variety of 'art as debate' to the majority of the country's towns and cities.
was created for the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain at a time when wars were
ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both conflicts were widely held to be colonially motivated
and against international law.
examines the changing archetype of masculinity, the impact of social conditioning on men's emotional responses, and the characteristics of power when held by men rather than women.
All Men Are Dangerous
2019
It's Easy to Be Angry
2019
The Great Heroes
2019
A Good Man (with Justin Cochrane)
2019
Men Are Really Great
2019
It's Back to Burt Reynolds
2019
Women and Power
2019
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions
Displayed
UK January to March 2019
Women and Power
was developed in conversation with five women who have experience of power in business, political, or public life. The series examines the difference between the way women and men gain, hold and use power.
Ugly Sweaty Men (with Inga Beale)
2019
When Men Hold Power (with Annie Rickard)
2019
Distorted Power (with Clare Short)
2019
The Simple Idea (with Alex Mahon)
2019
Women Make Up Half (with Liv Garfield)
2019
All Power Is Temporary
2019
Beautiful
2021
Medium
Found footage (colour, sound)
Duration
0:21
A doll is described as
beautiful
17 times in 30 seconds in this 1960s commercial. The artist has re-edited the footage, removing every word except
beautiful
, satirising the idea that a woman's value is determined by the way she looks.
describes the realisation of one trans woman's identity in her own words.
The artwork examines the principle that if all identities are constructed, then all identities
are, at root, equal. Less usual identity constructions are no different.
They are simply less usual.
weighs the premise that every identity is a construction, without exception.
Some identities may be less usual than others but all are equally and arbitrarily invented.
The media promote a one-dimensional cardboard cutout of a hero: film and television are full of nightmare visions / erotic dreams in which masculinity, sex,
domination and violence are conflated. Complete Hero presents an alternative, plural
definition of heroism seen through the eyes of military personnel, scientists, artists and philosophers.
I Want to Live in a City Where No One Is Sent to War
2006
Medium
Projection
Displayed
National Gallery UK July 2006
I Want to Live in a City Where
presents a wish-list of liberal policies as digital projections onto the facade of the National Gallery of Great Britain. The series comprises an ambitious, artist-led agenda for civic agitation and renewal.
No One Is Sent to War
2006
Violence Never Works
2006
No One Has to Be Afraid of Standing Out
2006
Fires of London
2016
Medium
Projection
Displayed
National Theatre, September 2016
Fires of London
commemorates the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. Fire is projected onto the dome of St Paul's in waves of colour consistent with flame of increasing temperatures
(from dull orange to yellow to blue to brilliant white).
In 1988, four women abseiled into the House of Lords shouting, 'Lesbians Are Out!' They were protesting against Clause 28 which effectively demonised LGBT lives. 21 years later, MPs
admitted that the law was offensive and unacceptable.
Black Is the Gravity that Tethers the Luminous World
2020-21
Medium
Digital billboards, various dimensions
Displayed
Switzerland, July and September 2020, March 2021
The Chromatika
is a new psychological theory of colour for the 21st Century, created by the artist in response to Goethe's
Zur Farbenlehre / Theory of Colours
and Rudolf Steiner's writings on colour.
Red travels most easily through the hot, thin atmosphere
2020
Violet bears an ominous resemblance to "violent"
2020
Orange suggests other realities between red and yellow
2020
Yellow is an instance of happiness speeding to its own end
2020
Indigo is measureless as the uniform blue-black of the deep pacific
2020
Blue contains all the longing a human being is capable of
2020
Green Is Savage Still as The Monstrous Fern Forests of Prehistory
2021
White is a desolation, a non-state like a blank mind
2021
Grey is an Ambiguous No-Man's Land, a half knowing
2021
Gender Think-In
2017
Medium
Think-in
Displayed
Lloyd's of London UK, 29 June 2017
The artist invited 200 senior leaders in business, culture and policy to a Think-In, designed to question
traditional gender roles and modelled on the consciousness-raising think-ins pioneered by the
Gay Liberation Front in the early 1970s.
Speakers
2017
Ballot
2017
Participants
2017
The One Irreducible Truth
2005
Medium
Digital billboard
Displayed
London railway stations December 2005
The artist paraphrases the renowned American sex researcher Alfred Kinsey as he famously concluded that difference in human sexuality was the only universal constant.
is a 6 frame gif drawn from a 1959 US military information film.
The film deals with nuclear testing and the need for strict secrecy if the enemies of America are to be kept at bay. In this
repurposed form, the artist uses the same messaging to question the value of any information contained in his own artworks.
He is, in effect, saying, 'Ignore anything I say here. Make up your own mind.'