Collectors remove art from Barbican over ‘censorship and repression’

Two collectors have revoked loans of artworks on display at a Barbican exhibition after the institute backed out of hosting a talk in early February by the writer Pankaj Mishra entitled 'The Shoah after Gaza', accusing the institution of "censorship and repression".

In a statement to The Guardian, the Barbican said its decision to withdraw the talk, hosted in partnership with the London Review of Books (LRB) winter lecture series, was made in response to the LRB “prematurely” publicising the lecture and its title.

A description of the talk posed the question: “What is the fate of universal values after Israel’s collapse into violent nationalism?” The Barbican said its senior team did not have time to "do the careful preparation needed for this sensitive content”. 

Following the decision, two quilts by Loretta Pettway that were being exhibited at the Barbican were removed at the request of the owners Lorenzo Legarda Leviste and his husband, Fahad Mayet.

A sign on the plinth where the works were on display says: “These two works have been withdrawn at the request of the lenders, as an act of solidarity with Palestine, in response to the Barbican’s decision to not host the London Review of Books (LRB) Winter Lecture Series.” 

Leviste contacted the exhibition curators with concerns over the Barbican’s cancellation of Mishra's talk. In his email correspondence with the curators, which he has published in full online, he accuses the Barbican of enforcing “censorship and repression,” from which “fascism emerges and our freedoms are eroded.”

The curators responded by saying they are “against anti-Palestinian racism and all kinds of racism, and are deeply horrified at the brutal genocide of Palestinians in Gaza”, adding that there was "no intention to censor the speaker involved" and an "agreement was reached with the LRB that they would use an alternative venue".

They added that holding the talk would have been contrary to the Barbican's policy of "properly considering" how to address sensitive topics.

In a statement to The Art Newspaper, Leviste said the Barbican was "refusing to engage with the serious and urgent questions that we’ve posed about how internal decisions are made and who makes them".

"These are answers that the public is owed, particularly given the systemic recurrence of repressive and racist incidents at the Barbican.”

Last June, the Barbican was accused of censorship when it asked a Palestinian speaker to avoid discussing Palestine at length during an event. The organisation later apologised, describing the decision as “a serious error of judgment”, for which it was “deeply sorry”. It has since hosted the London Palestine Film Festival, in November.