Rat Manifesto

Rat Manifesto
in What’s Wrong?
Trade Apartment, London
2001

An existing artwork, in the form of a large poster, has been vandalised by rats. They have nibbled and clawed holes in the paper in order to form words. The words form an accusation aimed at us; this is not only a list of complaints but a threat, also. The small, torn out bits of paper lie beneath the poster, spilling out into the gallery.

Rat Manifesto text

We have had enough of your persecution
enough of  being forced underground and into the night
enough of being deluged in your piss and shit and debris
of living off scraps
of being infected by your diseases
of being hunted killed and tortured
of being vilified in your stories
and blamed for your disasters

We are obscene and terrible
we are what you have made us