The author of the poster, which shows Education Minister Joao Costa with a pencil stuck in one eye, complains of “external pressure” and “silence” due to the fact that his work is not exposed, contrary to what he was promised.
The drawing by Prof. Pedro Brito was accepted on June 16 as part of the exhibition “A penchant for the forbidden”, which will be held from July 3 to 21 in Lisbon, but three days later by the Committee, which has a partnership with COMBART, an International Conference on Art, Activism and Citizenship, organized by the Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences at the University of Nova de Lisboa, withdrew the decision and sent an e-mail to the author stating that it would not exhibit the poster. He claims that he “didn’t realize the extent of the controversy” around the education minister’s poster and mainly the prime minister’s caricature. “I’ve been cancelled! Democratic and free Portugal, where everyone has the right to vote, but when it gets uncomfortable and too loud, there are “agents of silence,” complains Pedro Brito.
This Thursday, the Committee regretted the initial mistake – by accepting Joao Costa’s poster – and justified the rejection by the “cruel nature” of some of Pedro Brito’s work.
The COMBART Organizing Committee explains that “it has partnered with the Committee within the framework of the conference in the sense of developing an artistic and cultural initiative that would be consistent with the main principles and themes of the conference.” The Organizing Committee of COMBART did not take any part in the decision taken by the Committee regarding the poster of Mr. Pedro Brito,” the COMBART Organizing Committee said in a statement. supervision.
The organizing committee says that they are alien to the decision of the committee, although they respect “the freedom of decision of the curators in this matter.” He regrets that Pedro Brito, the author of the poster, speaks of “the false association of the research centers and the organizing committee of COMBART with some kind of pressure or censorship in the face of his poster.”
Author: Rogerio Chambel
Source: CM Jornal
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