Have you ever taken activism outside of the artworld? How do you think activist art can change opinion?

 

Your first two questions beg another question - what is "activism" in art and generally?
Firstly, I rarely get involved in what one would typically think of as activism outside of the artworld. I am a member/supporter of some activist groups and organisations such as Greenpeace, Woodland Trust and RSPB but mainly as a donor. However, I have occasionally been on marches and rallies such as those associated with anti-Brexit and anti-war demonstrations.

But in a quieter, personal way I take individual action such as collecting recyclable litter from public areas when I am out and about and putting it somewhere it will hopefully be recycled. I also, of course, often collect other discarded material for artistic purposes so there is a crossover between the two activities. I am often noticed by other people when collecting for either purpose but obviously onlookers will not be aware of any distinction between the two activities. The artworld and the non-artworld therefore merge unconsciously in the minds of those "witnesses" to my interventions.

Secondly, all contemporary art is activist art since, by definition, it must relate to current issues of general concern out in the world. Thus anyone observing this art will be drawn into engaging on some level with those issues through the artworks, consciously or unconsciously. Art however is not politics or direct activism but rather engages viewers on several levels using ambiguity and ambivalence which raises awareness, possibilities and connections perhaps not otherwise obvious. By such means opinions, or more likely perceptions, are not consciously or directly changed so much as challenged.

Art does this most effectively by either using one thing to represent another thing which otherwise would not normally be associated, in order to raise questions and challenge preconceptions or prejudices. Equally this can be done by juxtaposing two or more objects, materials, sounds etc which are not usually thought to be associated in any way.
 

I really enjoy the fact that these stacked boxes imitate Ancient Greek/ Roman collums, was this found by accident or something you had thought of in advance?

On the third question, I very rarely collect discarded objects for a particular reason, and even when I do they rarely end up being used for that reason. I collect things because I am attracted to them in some way but don't really know why at the time. Only later do I find an art use for them if at all. My installations are responses to the locations they're to be shown in. The brick alcove in which one of the fish box columns is located was part of the crypt of an old north London church which is used regularly for art exhibitions. I already had a large collection of used fish boxes recovered from the back of the fish and chip shop near my former studio and I realised that they resonated with the ontology of the crypt. The more I thought about them the more associations occurred to me between the boxes and aspects of the crypt's history, religious use, burial site, architecture and social and political issues present in the surrounding area.