}
A musical donation
Ian had forgotten all about donating these CDs to the Occupy protest, until he saw them again displayed in M Shed!
'It's the CD-Rs in the wallet that I recognised, because I burnt them as a donation to Occupy on College Green. I'd completely forgotten I'd made them, to be honest, but I recognised my handwriting and the now faded green ink I used to use to mark discs, and the memory came back to me.
At the time I was volunteering at a Daycentre for the Elderly which was facing closure; we'd contacted Occupy before to see about being part of a wider resistance to the Tory cuts.
I was unemployed at the time, but passing through I stopped and asked if I could support them in any way other than financially. They suggested food would always be handy, and if I had any music they could listen too to keep their spirits up; we got into a little discussion about my own tastes in music, and some punk rock was deemed acceptable. The frustrating thing is, I can remember my generic thinking now, but I can't recall what else I might have made them! I know I probably decided to do a selection of bands from Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, so they could do a bit of public punk-proselytising at the same time as relaxing, but what exactly I might also have copied, I really can't remember! And the museum wouldn't let me into the cabinet to flick the discs, naturally. But the CD-R I could see, "NoMeansNo's - Wrong" I chose not because of any political message, as it's not an album that really has one, but because it was their most popular, catchiest release, so Occupy would have something they also might enjoy listening too for it's own sake too.
I have no idea if they actually ever did though; And seeing it again in a museum now was... odd. We didn't save our Daycentre, and Occupy itself is already a museum piece only half a decade later. Protest and pressure for change goes on, but at a personal level, I can't help but wonder what anyone else actually thinks when they look at those discs; because once they left my hands, they clearly had an existence that is completely unknown to me.
I know what they probably did with the bananas I also donated though; they almost certainly ate those. To be honest, I feel better about the fruit; practical actions that help today feel more satisfying than museum pieces I don't know the history of, even if I was part of it. But hopefully I've helped fill in a little bit of it for the M Shed.'
'It's the CD-Rs in the wallet that I recognised, because I burnt them as a donation to Occupy on College Green. I'd completely forgotten I'd made them, to be honest, but I recognised my handwriting and the now faded green ink I used to use to mark discs, and the memory came back to me.
At the time I was volunteering at a Daycentre for the Elderly which was facing closure; we'd contacted Occupy before to see about being part of a wider resistance to the Tory cuts.
I was unemployed at the time, but passing through I stopped and asked if I could support them in any way other than financially. They suggested food would always be handy, and if I had any music they could listen too to keep their spirits up; we got into a little discussion about my own tastes in music, and some punk rock was deemed acceptable. The frustrating thing is, I can remember my generic thinking now, but I can't recall what else I might have made them! I know I probably decided to do a selection of bands from Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, so they could do a bit of public punk-proselytising at the same time as relaxing, but what exactly I might also have copied, I really can't remember! And the museum wouldn't let me into the cabinet to flick the discs, naturally. But the CD-R I could see, "NoMeansNo's - Wrong" I chose not because of any political message, as it's not an album that really has one, but because it was their most popular, catchiest release, so Occupy would have something they also might enjoy listening too for it's own sake too.
I have no idea if they actually ever did though; And seeing it again in a museum now was... odd. We didn't save our Daycentre, and Occupy itself is already a museum piece only half a decade later. Protest and pressure for change goes on, but at a personal level, I can't help but wonder what anyone else actually thinks when they look at those discs; because once they left my hands, they clearly had an existence that is completely unknown to me.
I know what they probably did with the bananas I also donated though; they almost certainly ate those. To be honest, I feel better about the fruit; practical actions that help today feel more satisfying than museum pieces I don't know the history of, even if I was part of it. But hopefully I've helped fill in a little bit of it for the M Shed.'