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On Monday, February 5th, 2024 ArtSpeech was to have a gallery show at the Midway Gallery in Boston. The show was called “Existential Dialog.”
The night before the show’s opening twelve pieces of art were taken down without our permission and without informing the group. These pieces mostly consisted of work that dealt with the genocide in Gaza. They included pieces by Peter Schumann (founder of Bread & Puppet Theater), Mexican artist Roxio Boliver, and African American artist James Coleman (whose work dealt with depictions of race).
The majority of the removed works were piled next to a door leading to the trash room and later moved to a locked location. It was the feeling, at that time, that our show had been vandalized.
The President of Midway’s Board of Directors told ArtSpeech members that there were various serious complaints about the work. None of these complaints were disclosed or brought to the attention of the co-chairs of the gallery.
A few days after the art was removed, ArtSpeech was ordered to take down the entire show.
We feel that the censorship of our show is an example of the arts community turning its back on freedom of speech and freedom of expression. If we don’t defend ourselves, if we don’t speak up and speak out, then who will speak for us?
We intend to present the artwork from the show, as well as the story of what happened, in a book so that people can judge for themselves if the work was offensive.
HERE IS THE VIDEO OF THE SHOW TAKEN LITERALLY MINUTES BEFORE THE SHOW WAS RANSACKED:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrPA0eYJJwI
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DESCRIPTION OF THE RANDSACKED ART PIECES: