As a continuation of last year’s debate on the topic of boycott, with the participation of Yazan Khalili, Nicoline van Harskamp and Clare Butcher, de Appel arts centre is pleased to present Before and After Censorship. This debate will take the form of a round table discussion with the presence of Galit Eilat, Sabina Sabolovic, Joanna Warsza, Loreto Guzmán and Federico Zukerfeld. The programme also includes a visual contribution by artist Francisco Camacho. Censorship may take place implicitly or explicitly, raising questions concerning the unspoken ethical ‘limits’ institutions have and reflecting the lack of autonomy and artistic freedom that institutions, curators and artists may have under particular circumstances. Often this debate goes beyond institutional or artistic endeavors and involves society as a whole. During this evening, we would like to discuss certain questions on the topic of censorship, specially focusing on the ways that artworks are communicated to the audience or not.
Some of these are: What does artistic freedom imply under a predetermined institutional context? How does this framework affect the artwork communication/message towards the public? How do external social groups condition the way artworks are presented to the public? What is the role of the audience in a censorship case? May censorship offer a space for negotiation? Curator Galit Eilat will talk about the role of education in the last Sao Paulo Biennial “How to (…) things that don’t exist”. The curatorial approach regarding education was often in tension with the ideas and activities developed by the local educational team of the biennial. The so-called 18+, where certain works were ‘censored’ for students under 18 years old, may work as an example. Also part of this Biennial, Federico Zukerfeld and Loreto Guzmán, founders of the Argentinean collective ETC group, will share how they worked together with the educational team for the display of Erring from God, a work by the Argentinean Leon Ferrari used by them as a triggering point to present their installation. In recent years curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW has encountered censorship and its threat both in the public and private institutions they have worked with. Sabina Sabolovic will discuss these cases, focusing on curatorial responsibility and strategic thinking within different political, social and artistic contexts.
Before and After Censorship is curated by Renata Cervetto (1985, Argentina), alumna of the Curatorial Programme 13/14, who was awarded the first Curatorial Fellowship of de Appel arts centre thanks to the Ammodo Foundation.
The image is courtesy of Francisco Camacho.