Over 1,000 leading artists have refused to work with a British venue that censored Palestine

Over 1,000 artists have announced their refusal to work with Bristol’s Arnolfini international arts centre after its censorship of Palestinian film and poetry

Arnolfini faces boycott over Palestinian censorship

Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja, writers Alice Oswald, Nikesh Shukla, Shon Faye, Travis Alabanza, and Rachel Holmes are among many of Bristol’s artists who have written an open letter accusing the iconic Arnolfini International Centre for Contemporary Arts of “censorship of Palestinian culture”.

The letter comes in response to Arnolfini’s cancellation of scheduled film and poetry events programmed by Bristol Palestine Film Festival. Leading Bristol artists, including Lawrence Hoo, Batu, Giant Swan, Tom Marshman and Verity Standen point to:

an alarming pattern of censorship and repression within the arts sector

citing a series of recent cancellations and threats to artists advocating for Palestinian rights in Britain and beyond.

Ukraine = good, Palestine = bad

The publicly funded arts centre claimed it cancelled the film and poetry events because it “could not be confident that the events would not stray into political activity”. But the centre’s statement was widely derided when it appeared on Arnolfini’s Instagram account.

Arnolfini has organised numerous events with overtly political themes. Last year Arnolfini hosted an event that opposed Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, with part of the ticket sales going to the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine.

Hundreds of British & international artists including Brian Eno, writers Raymond Antrobus, Isabel Waidner, Lola Olufemi, and Huw Lemmey, performance artist Colin Self, and actor Juliet Stevenson joined Bristol artists in signing, stating that after the killing of more than 17,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the destruction of more than 100 heritage sites in a matter of weeks:

to silence Palestinian voices and narratives at this exact moment is not merely a betrayal of the fundamental principles of pluralism and freedom in the arts, it is also inhumane.

Visual artists Jasleen Kaur, Ben Rivers, Paul Purgas, Tai Shani, Jumana Manna and Erica Scourti agree that Britain’s hard-won legacy of freedom in the arts:

cannot be allowed to fall prey to authoritarianism, racism and censorship… Anyone who cares about the democratic functioning of our cultural institutions should be deeply concerned.

Blames bosses, not the workers

The artists vow to take collective action and urge other artists and audiences to join them, saying:

we must, reluctantly, refuse cooperation with the arts centre and will not participate in any of its events

until Arnolfini:

publicly commits to consistently uphold freedom of expression, with no exception for Palestine, and genuinely engages with Bristol’s arts community to rectify the harm it has caused.

Bristol artist and composer Nik Rawlings, who was in talks with the gallery to undertake a residency at Arnolfini, announced that they are no longer willing to do so. They added:

We want to make it clear that we stand fully behind workers at Arnolfini who’ve had no say in this. Our message is addressed to those in the management who made this damaging decision; the signatories of this letter expect better integrity, transparency and cultural leadership from Arnolfini.

Featured image via the BBC – screengrab