CENSORED
Art Project
autor: Georgi Yamaliev
29.01-22.02.2013
Credo Bonum Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
The project explores the
interconnection between the hierarchical dependence in the world of art and the
acts of censorship imposed by particular institutions or persons. The interest
in this topic is provoked by my personal experience with censorship in the
Ifitri resident program in Morocco and my participation in the International
Biennial of Contemporary Art in Casablanca in 2011. With one argument or
another all Bulgarian participants in the international event were censored.
Their works were either removed from the exposition or altered in accordance
with the wishes of the organizers, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble. Some
of the censored authors are pictured in the portraits included in my current
project. The black rectangle, which is probably the oldest symbol of censorship
and control over artwork and other forms of human expression, is used as key element
in the project. By definition, censorship means suppression of free expression
or another type of public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful,
sensitive, or embarrassing as determined by some institutions, the media or
other controlling
body.
Hence the relationship between censorship and subordination. The subordination
of the levels within an organisation represents a hierarchical relationship
between them. The basic meaning of subordination is dependency, hierarchy. In
this sense every artist strives for a certain type of sovereignty, for the opportunity
to have the freedom to do whatever they want, but this sovereignty is probably mythical,
because it is constantly attacked, restrained, contested, circumvented or misappropriated
by the art market, the state and the art industry. Artists are forced to comply
with rules generated by the increasing dumbing down of art, by the economic
forces of the market, the imposed principles and concepts and the complex
interrelations between the various units in the system. All this also gives
rise to the questions about who and why has the right to control and censor,
how far-reaching are the limits of intervention and to what extent is the
modern artist independent and free to express their ideas without adapting to
and complying with the dominant market rules and tastes?
