Today Peter Nelson, artist and art installer, has posted an Open Letter on social media announcing the refusal to hang the exhibitions and install the installations of the 19th Biennale of Sydney on ethical grounds, as a protest at the funding ties to mandatory detention camps profits, by Transfield the major sponsor promoted by the Biennale, which is also seen to be endorsed by the artists and arts workers in the Biennale.
Peter Nelson, artist and Audio-Visual arts technician, who has only recently started a new position at the MCA has made the moral choice as an artist, to leave this position (which he valued highly) as he writes: "In my heart I knew that it would be impossible to return to the studio knowing that I had done nothing."
In protest at the unethical source of funding, implicated in human suffering and cruelty as shown in the reports in the mainstream media (and documented in posts on this blog), Peter is resigning from the 19th SydneyBiennale installation work, on principle and in the belief that protest by citizens in a democracy makes changes.
His letter is reproduced here in full:
Open letter from an arts worker and an artist:
Dear friends,
Many of you might know that I work as an art installer and technician for a number of organisations in Sydney. A couple of weeks ago I was excited and humbled to be offered a position as an AV technician at the MCA. I have worked there for five days now, and it’s the sort of job and workplace where I actually look forward to going to work, both for the great people and the challenging tasks thrown at us (yes, that IS a projector pun).
All of the institutions I work for unanimously agree that they like to employ artists as technicians and installers — we are well-suited for the technical challenges and understand the nature and context of the artworks themselves.
It is as an artist that I have made this decision. The Arts are charged with reflecting and criticising society, but itis so rare that an issue of such political poignancy falls directly at the feetof the arts community. In my heart, I know that it would be impossible toreturn to the studio, knowing that when faced with a decision of direct relevance,I did nothing.
This morning, I resigned from Biennale of Sydney installation work at both the MCA and ArtSpace. The relationship betweenthe Biennale and the punitive practice of Mandatory Detention is a context thatI feel I am unable to work within.
It upsets me that the people directly affected by this will be those who were good enough to offer me the work, andthose with whom I work alongside. This is a not a choice I had ever imaginedmyself making, but I thought this through from as many angles as I could, and kept returning to the same outcome. An arts community has to be credible, ithas to be about something. For me to equivocate and delay on a situation that Iknew in my heart to be wrong would make life as an artist feel empty and meaningless.
Yours truly,
Peter Nelson
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