Johanna Billing's Whitechapel Show Critiqued for Private School Ties

Johanna Billing's exhibition 'Each Moment Presents What Happens' at Whitechapel Gallery, on view through 14 January 2024, restages John Cage's 1952 'Theatre Piece no.1' at Black Mountain College, replacing art students with school children. The film, commissioned by Bristol Grammar School—a fee-paying private school—to mark its new performance theatre, features students from Bristol schools using professional equipment. The project aims to address themes of exchange, experimentation, and the politics of education, but critic Chris Hayes argues it is silent about its own context of private education, which fosters inequality. Hayes notes that 65% of the UK cabinet attended private school versus 7% of the population, and that arts funding cuts disproportionately affect state schools. He contends the work's production undermines its premise, as it is tied to a system that hoards resources and opportunities, making the artwork's social purpose a thin veneer.