UP:RISE TV is a 19 hour "pirate television" piece by artist Baff Akoto. The work serves as a critical commentary on the inherently reductive, simplifying and voyeuristic instincts of broadcast news and the limitations of the medium when faced with the complex, societal causes of acute civil dissent and unrest.
UP:RISE TV complements Akoto's Augmented Reality UP:RISE works which (along with the nationwide exhibition by the same name) explore the pathology, history and underlying drivers of English civil unrest in the digital age.
Watch UP:RISE TV here:
UP:RISE Public Artwork
UP:RISE is a groundbreaking nationwide Augmented Reality public artwork from artist Baff Akoto exploring the pathology, history and underlying drivers of English civil unrest in the digital age.
Marking the 10th anniversary of the August 2011 “UK riots”, UP:RISE exhibited from August 6th 2021 via QR codes located nationwide in communities where incidents of unrest were recorded in the summer of 2011. Akoto’s UP:RISE exhibition was accompanied by community workshops and a Conversation Series bringing together artists and thought leaders with community and youth voices to explore the inherent themes of the work, delving into how digital networks connect marginalised people and shape real-world mass dissent.
Baff’s UP:RISE continues (and is a 21st century update on) the artistic tradition of works which memorialise and commemorate previously denigrated sociopolitical and historical moments - including Picasso (Guernica), Accra Shepp (Occupy Portraits), Kara Walker (Gone, Battle of Atlanta), Mark Wallinger (State Britain), John Akomfrah (Riot, Handsworth Songs), Jeremy Deller (Orgreave) and Steve McQueen (Small Axe)