Collecting Occupy London: Public Collecting Institutions and Social Protest Movements in the 21st Century

Abstract

The attempt to occupy the London Stock Exchange and the subsequent camps established at St Paul's Cathedral and other locations bordering the City of London have created new dynamics in social protest. Museums and other public collecting institutions face major challenges in preserving both the material culture and the social experience of this movement, which are often ephemeral in form or difficult to record in a rapidly changing environment. The danger of oversimplifying or misrepresenting meanings within this protest culture is ever-present. Yet, this danger has been mitigated by the self-chronicling and archiving tendencies of the Occupy movement itself, particularly its extensive use of social media and web-based resources.

Keywords:

• Occupy London
• protest
• museums
• material culture
• digital
• social media