Spring tour for austerity installation on DWP deaths that was inspired by war photographers

A spring tour of an award-winning installation is set to expose how the actions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) caused “devastating violence” and led to countless deaths of benefit claimants in the austerity years.

The mixed reality installation Museum of Austerity is opening its spring tour this week at Live Theatre, Newcastle (pictured), before touring next month to Chatham in Kent, and then Bristol Old Vic in June.

The installation uses verbal testimony of family members and state-of-the-art technology to recreate the circumstances that led to the deaths of disabled claimants of benefits in the post-2010 decade of austerity.

The production uses recorded interviews and ground-breaking “volumetric capture” techniques that have produced high-quality, three-dimensional images.

It focuses on the stories of claimants whose deaths have all previously been linked by Disability News Service (DNS) to flaws in DWP’s assessments, sanctions and safeguarding systems.

Sacha Wares, director of Museum of Austerity, said: “Inspired by war photographers of the past who used early cameras to capture distant battlefields, Museum of Austerity employs mixed reality technologies to record the invisible, devastating violence of austerity.

“Museum of Austerity is an artwork I wish we hadn’t had to make, but which needs to be seen.”

John Pring*, co-editor of Museum of Austerity and editor of DNS, said: “Museum of Austerity has found an innovative and powerful way to tell these terrible stories in a way that exposes the horror of what happened to so many disabled people during the austerity period.

“This is a ground-breaking piece of work, and I’m relieved that this tour will allow more people to view the exhibition and understand how the actions of the DWP led to widespread poverty, acute distress and even the deaths of countless benefit claimants.

“I hope the audience will think about the harm done, and how no-one associated with these actions has ever been held accountable for what happened and is still happening today.”

The installation is a co-production of English Touring Theatre, the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio, and Ware’s Trial & Error Studio.

Alongside the production, there will be a programme of exhibitions and workshops led by Healing Justice LDN (HJL) and local partners.

The first workshop, Rage, Grief and Justice: Disabled People’s Resistance to Austerity, will take place at Live Theatre, Newcastle, tomorrow afternoon (Friday, 19 April).

It will feature a conversation between Dr China Mills, who leads HJL’s Deaths by Welfare project; Imogen Day, whose sister’s death was linked by a coroner to fatal flaws in the disability benefits system; and disabled activist Gail Ward, a long-standing member of grassroots groups Disabled People Against Cuts and Black Triangle Campaign.

The workshop will examine the “resistance and defiance” of disabled people and bereaved families in response to the years of life-threatening social security policies and state austerity.

It will also share information about the online Deaths by Welfare timeline, which tracks the slow, accumulated violence caused by the social security system over the last three decades.

The workshop will also examine how “rage and grief” can help create community-led approaches to social security, health, safety and justice, and honour those who have died because of austerity and welfare reform.

Museum of Austerity is at Live Theatre, Newcastle, from 17 April to 21 April; at No 1 Smithery Studio, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, from 16 to 18 May, although tickets for the public, which are free, are only available for this leg of the tour on 18 May, and can be booked through the Gulbenkian Arts Centre box office; and at Bristol Old Vic from 12 to 15 June.

*Pring is specialist advisor and co-editor of Museum of Austerity, and co-creator of the Deaths by Welfare timeline. His book on DWP and how its actions led to countless deaths of disabled people in the post-2010 era – The Department – will be published by Pluto Press in August

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…