The art community around the world is appalled and disturbed by the deliberate destruction of the art of Christoforos Katsadiotis at the National Gallery. This crime was committed by Nikos Papadopoulos, a member of parliament, and his accomplice, who claim that the four works of art offend their religious sensibilities.
This act has raised two important questions: can individuals be allowed to carry out arbitrary acts of censorship? Should a national gallery of a country that is considered a safe space, where diverse voices within the country are hosted and protected, treat the perpetrator, who is a powerful politician, any differently?
The inability of the Alexandros Soutsos Museum (the National Gallery) to act swiftly and effectively to punish the perpetrator is a matter of grave concern to art professionals.
AICA International stands in solidarity with the artist and have urged the Director and Board of the National Gallery, The Minister of Culture of the Hellenic Republic and the Representative of UNESCO in a letter of protest respectively, to intervene and protect the artistic rights of Christoforos.
As a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Hellenic Republic is committed to upholding its four core areas of creative diversity: cultural and natural heritage, movable cultural property, intangible cultural heritage and contemporary creativity.
Cultural freedom, as enshrined in this Convention, is the right to express, practise and share one's culture without fear of censorship or persecution.
AICA calls for a suitable punishment for the perpetrators according to the law of the land. A public apology and appropriate compensation should also be provided by the perpetrators to the artist whose works have been vandalized at the Gallery.
On behalf of AICA International
Malgorzata Kazmierczak, President AICA International
Niilofur Farrukh, Chair of the Censorship and Freedom of Expression Committee