{"id":130566,"date":"2020-02-03T14:53:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T13:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/2020\/02\/03\/utopias-review-the-centuries-old-illusion-of-taking-back-control\/"},"modified":"2020-02-03T14:53:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T13:53:05","slug":"utopias-review-the-centuries-old-illusion-of-taking-back-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/?p=130566","title":{"rendered":"Utopias review \u2013 the centuries-old illusion of &#039;taking back control&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Whitworth, ManchesterFrom Thomas More\u2019s 1516 book to Hogarth\u2019s French invasion plates and Simon Roberts\u2019s Brexit posters, our quest for a future perfect world makes uncomfortable viewing Near the front of Thomas More\u2019s 16th century book Utopia there is an illustration of a small island, dotted with rolling hills and populated with neat little castles; from the harbour a large ship sets off, presumably to conquer faraway lands and preach its vision of a perfect world. Looking down at this isolated kingdom on the day the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, I am reminded of another island that imagined its green and pleasant land as a glorious haven if it could only \u201ctake back control\u201d. Centuries have passed since More set out his idealistic future, but our utopian dreams seem to have struggled to develop beyond a desire to own a small patch of the planet where private castles can be maintained, and a particular culture can be protected and promoted.At the dawn of Brexit, Utopias at the Whitworth in Manchester draws together art, literature and maps from a range of sources and artists to try to work out why the search is still on for a land flowing with milk and honey. Because, despite the fact \u201cutopia\u201d famously derives from the Greek ou-topos and means \u201cno place\u201d, the idea of a golden future is still a captivating concept. It was the main motivator behind Brexit \u2013 regardless of which way you voted \u2013 and if that nearly 50\/50 vote is anything to go by, Brexit holds the key to why we\u2019ll never find utopia; no one can agree on what it should look like. Continue reading&#8230;<br \/>\nVia: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2020\/feb\/03\/utopias-review-whitworth-manchester-thomas-more-brexit\" target=\"_blank\">Utopias review \u2013 the centuries-old illusion of &#039;taking back control&#039;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Whitworth, ManchesterFrom Thomas More\u2019s 1516 book to Hogarth\u2019s French invasion plates and Simon Roberts\u2019s Brexit posters, our quest for a future perfect world makes uncomfortable viewing Near the front of Thomas More\u2019s 16th century book Utopia there is an illustration of a small island, dotted with rolling hills and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}