'"The Materialisation of Persuasion": Modernist Exhibitions in Britain for Propaganda and Resistance, 1933 to 1953' investigates exhibitions developed for communication of propaganda and resistance from the inter- to the post-war period in Britain. The exhibitions that are central to this project were intended to influence or persuade, with ideas, not objects, as the central focus. Pivotal to this project is a vision, which the designers shared, of such exhibitions as active and participative 'demonstrations', as acts of provocation, rather than as 'displays' seen by a passive audience, primarily acting as platforms for displaying the fruits of commerce, trade, industry or the arts. This vision was initially inspired by exhibitions held in Russia and Germany and informed the visual language of the early British welfare state. This project will focus, in particular, on a range of exhibitions developed by the Artists' International Association (AIA) from 1933 and the Ministry of Information from 1940, intended to inspire hope, pride and to teach the populous new skills. These can, as shorthand, be described as "propaganda" or "information" exhibitions, although the complexities and contradictions of these titles will be addressed within this project. These were mounted by a network of designers including Misha Black (1910-1972), F.H.K. Henrion (1914-1990), James Holland (1905-1996), Milner Gray (1899-1997) and Richard Levin (1910-2000), all of whom worked on exhibitions during the two decades from 1933 and were members of interlinking personal, professional and activist networks, many of them recent arrivals fleeing the Nazi threat. AIA artist-members included many of the most significant British artists of the time: Henry Moore (1898-1986), Eric Gill (1882-1940), Augustus John (1878-1961), Vanessa Bell (1879-1961) and Paul Nash (1889-1946); while the Ministry of Information's Exhibitions Division employed celebrated Modernist architects Frederick Gibberd (1908-1984) and Peter Moro (1911-1998). This research will connect propaganda exhibitions held across a range of locations around, and beyond, Britain during these decades. They were mounted by an extended network of designers, for whom group-work was an important manifestation of a belief in collaboration and collectivity. It will assert this as a key, but largely overlooked, element in British Modernism. Particular case studies will include various AIA exhibitions mounted from 1934 (for example 'Art for the People', 1939 held at Whitechapel Art Gallery and 'For Liberty', 1943, held on a London bombsite); The Peace Pavilion at the Paris World Fair, 1937; The Modern Architecture Group (or MARS) exhibition, 1937; Picasso's Guernica touring sites around Britain including a car showroom, 1937-8; Empire Exhibition, Glasgow, 1938 (in particular installations by Misha Black); the British Pavilion at New York World's Fair, 1939; Aid to Russia, 1942; Ministry of Information exhibitions mounted in sites such as Charing Cross Underground Station and travelling round Britain to shops and village halls from 1940-45; and by Central Office of Information from 1946; and Britain Can Make It, V&A, 1946, (specifically installations by Design Research Unit). Drawing on primary and secondary sources, this project will also make comparisons of the style, content and ideological impetus of other exhibitions mounted across Europe and North America during the same period. Major outputs of "The Materialisation of Persuasion" will be: a monograph entitled 'Modernism, Propaganda and the Public: Exhibitions in Britain 1933-1953'; a co-edited essay collection 'Beyond Boundaries: Art and Design Exhibitions as Transnational Exchange from 1945'; a methodologically-focused journal article; and a documentary film exploring British propaganda exhibitions during this period and assessing their significance today.