'Political prisoners' exhibit pulled from ARCO Madrid art fair
Friday, February 23, 2018 @ 10:04 AM
A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition titled 'Political Prisoners' at Madrid's ARCO art fair has been banned as 'too controversial'.
Artist Santiago Sierra presented 24 photos with the faces pixelated, but otherwise recognisable, in his display – some of which are of politicians from Catalunya who are in custody over their involvement with the disputed independence referendum.
But the national government, in response to accusations of censorship, said: “There are no political prisoners in Spain.”
The decision to remove the exhibit was made by the organisers of the fair at Madrid's IFEMA centre as they wanted to 'avoid conflict and problems'.
They feared Sierra's display would distract visitors from all the other exhibits and lead to the Catalunya crisis hijacking the art fair.
Sierra considers the removal of his photographic exhibition will harm the image and reputation of ARCO Madrid and says it reflects 'an atmosphere of persecution'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com