INDIAN ARTISTS BOYCOTT SHOW AT TEL AVIV ART MUSEUM
Submitted by Nora (August 1,2011)
Indian artists, invited by the curators of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to participate in an exhibition of work from India next Spring, have signed a public statement refusing the invitation in solidarity with the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
In a statement published on the website for PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, the artists said they “refuse to legitimize the illegal racist and apartheid policies of the Israeli Government against the people of Palestine and to become a part of ‘Brand Israel.’”
The statement reads in full:
The first major show of Indian art, “Deconstructing India,” is planned for Spring 2012 in the new wing of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel.
We, the undersigned artists, who have been invited by the curators to participate in this show, have declined to exhibit our work, in solidarity with the International Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called by Palestinian intellectuals and artists, and the India Campaign. The Boycott, inspired by the earlier successful international boycott against Apartheid South Africa, is a peaceful, non-violent Gandhian campaign, which is directed at mainstream institutions and not at individuals, to pressurize Israel to recognize the rights of the Palestine people.
The newly built Amir Wing of the Tel Aviv Museum designed by American architect Preston Scott Cohen is planned to be a showpiece for the discredited Israeli Government to increase its status and prestige internationally at a time when the country’s image is at its lowest ebb.
By declining to participate in this show, we refuse to legitimize the illegal racist and apartheid policies of the Israeli Government against the people of Palestine and to become a part of “Brand Israel.”
Signatures: Nalini Malani, Anita Dube, Amar Kanwar, Sakshi Gupta, Pushpamala N.
In solidarity with the Boycott:
Artists: Vivan Sundaram, Ayisha Abraham, Ram Rahman, Sharmila Samant, Sunil Gupta, Gauri Gill, Inder Salim, Vibha Galhotra, Vasudha Thozhur, Tushar Joag, Indrapramit Roy, Arunkumar HG, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Archana Hande, Monali Meher, Suresh Jayaram.
Art Scholars: Geeta Kapoor, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Chaitanya Sambrani, Kajri Jain, Nuzhat Kazmi, R. Nandakumar
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