Against the background of current developments in Dutch politics, this exhibition shed a critical light on the relationship between art and politics.
Artists have long been aware of the social implications of their work. Politicians also regularly speak out about the role of art in society. After all, a certain form of social involvement can be found in almost every work of art. In The People United Will Never Be Defeated, however, it was not about art that shows its commitment. The focus was on artists who explicitly and explicitly address politics as a system: voting, speeches, campaigns, meetings, decisions. Close to the politician, they enter into dialogue with the established order.
A source of inspiration for the exhibition was the essay 'Post-propaganda' (Jap Sam Books, 2010), by artist Jonas Staal. The exhibition included the room-filling installation Politiek Kunstbezit, in which Staal brought together works of art from the parliamentary chambers of the Rotterdam political parties. Filmmaker Rob Schröder interviewed the political parties about their art collections.
From an information stand, BAVO gave advice on the social position of the artist and how to improve it. Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson portrayed lobbyists during their work at the European Parliament. Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum exchanged campaign billboards in the centre of Rotterdam for new, own campaign billboards and showed their video recording of the public reactions during the election period. Sjoerd Oudman created a campaign song for all political parties. Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta presented their project Complaints Choir, in which they call on city residents to bundle their complaints and sing in choir. A video work by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries showed in a compelling way how reason and emotion alternate when voting for the controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
The title of the exhibition refers to a Chilean protest song from the seventies: 'El pueblo unido jamas sera Vencido' by Sergio Ortego. It was a period in which many Chilean artists fled to Europe and Rotterdam. In the years that followed, they expressed their political protests on the walls of the port city.