An online protest petition has been launched by Visual Arts Ireland after Ursula Burkes image of two men intertwined, with a voyeuristic woman observing them, was deemed unsuitable for inclusion in the upcoming exhibition at the FE McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge, Co Down. Noel Kelly, chief executive officer of artist representative body Visual Arts Ireland, urged people to sign a petition to have Burkes excluded work reinstated in the Banbridge exhibition. Its a difficulty for any funded organisation to maintain artistic autonomy, he said. When a council come in and try to dictate the artistic programme this removes the autonomy of the space itself. It is a definite attack on artistic practice and it starts to question if the space is an attractive place for artists to want to show in.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 07:56:59 +0000