Contesting class, gender and national identity: The visual art practice of Test Dept

Abstract

The 1980s was a time of discontinuity in the United Kingdom as the country was restructured through an extensive reconfiguration of economic, social and political relations. This shift towards what would subsequently be termed neo-liberalism included the deliberate dismantling of organized labour as a political force, privatization, deregulation, cuts to the welfare state and a belief in the pre-eminence of the market as the most effective processor of information. Test Dept formed in 1981 and evolved politically in the socio-economic context of the early imposition of neo-liberalism. Test Dept’s visual art practice contested neo-liberal representation and discourse, opening up space and providing resources for alternative identities and the perpetuation of models of identity based around collectivism and solidarity. This article explores Test Dept’s practice, focusing on three aspects of identity that neo-liberalism attempted to restructure: class, gender and national identity.