The Banality of Evil:
the system behind the stories
“The Banality of Evil” is a phrase used by political theorist Hannah Arendt to capture the idea that morally abhorrent systems and campaigns can be run by ordinary, dutiful bureaucrats obeying orders and operating on a level that makes them disengaged from the evil that they are enacting by following the system.
The Barbican is a vessel run with the energy of colonial administrators.
This administration goes by unquestioned and without major fanfare. It takes place in systems, emails, forms, and budgets - all of which make evil possible. This evil is not delivered in coffins or written in blood 🩸, it is not accompanied by a manifesto that outlines radical and scary political views. It is a method that wears you down, dissolves individual responsibility (“I’m just doing my job!”) and makes it possible to discriminate and abuse at no consequence. It is out-of-office replies that leave you on hold for weeks and “sorry, it’s not in our policy!”. It is a tired worker not having enough time to review your case properly and it is walls of text in response to simple questions:
🤷🏽♀️When will accountability come?
🤷🏽♂️Why are all the directors white?
🤷🏼♀️Why can’t we change the hiring policy?
The banality of evil is waiting for over a year, for little progress with hundreds of emails and thousands of words in between. It is the sly hiring of another white director and the undemocratic appointment of an independent body (of mostly white lawyers) to review racism at the Barbican. It is asking staff to fill in HR forms, to justify their experiences with dates, names, and witnesses.
This is how racism happens at the Barbican and elsewhere, it drips out slowly, over weeks, months, and years. So slowly it pretends not to be happening at all. Racism is the quiet hum of passive aggression that keeps institutions going, it is built into application portals, customer service forms, and systems built to protect the institution over its staff.
In the spirit of radical transparency and to further enhance the public’s and the Barbican’s understanding of the banality of evil, we invite Barbican staff, partners, and artists to leak the boring admin you’ve had to do with the Barbican.
It is important to capture these details and talk about them. If we don’t, history will favour those who have covered up their racism with elegant Excel sheets and web portals.
These are all moral documents and help build a picture of the system behind the stories. These are archival documents that evidence systemic racism. Nothing is insignificant.
Our white colleagues and allies have been asking, what can we do? You can help us collect information that sheds light on the systems that perpetuate all kinds of discrimination - even if they implicate you.
If you have recently asked for a refund, we want to see it because this is not something the Barbican will ever announce publicly or internally with its staff.
If you have pulled out of the Barbican’s programme or declined an invitation as an artist or stakeholder - we want to know.
If you have decided not to renew your membership - tell us.
If a form you’ve made or you’ve had to use is racist, sexist or ableist - send it over.
If your budget has been revised, or if you know there is a gaping hole that is being covered by admin, show us.
If your email is full of dismissive, passive-aggressive links to City of London Policy, we want to know.
If your meeting notes gloss over the uncomfortable conversation, thereby leaving it to institutional denial and amnesia, tell us.
These documents will go to a public archive and will also help inform the timeline extension for the second print run of Barbican Stories. We’ll redact and anonymise any personal information, but feel free to do this yourself before submitting.