Skip to main content
Reimagining the unimaginable
Artist JOHN MARC ALLEN talks to Andy Hedgecock about his exhibition inspired by Dr Strangelove and the Atomic Age
(L to R) Burning Globe of Obscene Fire, Like Electric Funeral Pyre, 2022; I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire, 2022

“THE race to find bigger and better ways to destroy each other is a terrifying prospect, one which has never left the public consciousness for 70 years,” says artist John Marc Allen.

Currently running at Blackpool’s Hive, How I Learned to Stop Worrying is Allen’s enlightening and provocative exhibition on the human capacity for planetary destruction and the mass psychology underpinning it.

Nuclear conflict invaded Allen’s thinking at the age of 10, in the form of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Two Tribes. The nine-minute Annihilation Mix (1984) included lines from the government’s Protect and Survive campaign, such as: “If your grandmother or any other member of the family should die whilst in the shelter, put them outside, but remember to tag them first for identification purposes.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You can read five articles for free every month,
but please consider supporting us by becoming a subscriber.
Similar stories
A panel from the Palestinian History Tapestry
Exhibition Review / 1 October 2024
1 October 2024
MARJORIE MAYO recommends an exhibition that asserts Palestinian history, culture and creativity in the face of strategies to erase them