The Shock of the Nude!
I'm lost for words! I would never have thought that a nude male could create such a madness!
Inteview with me at Sweish Radio SBS Sydney:
http://www20.sbs.com.au/podcasting/index.php?action=feeddetails&feedid=62&id=12852
And please read the whole The Age article @:
The Age, 11 May 2008 1st Page
Page 5
And then.... the editorial voice on page 18 same day... Confusing!! 
Headline news:
City Council of Melbourne covering my work with black cloth:
Headline news:
City Council of Melbourne covering my work with black cloth:
The Age 18 May 2008; Public responces 
As I never had the intention to create a controversy, I’m in shock of the shock! And I have been contacted by people around the world and I found the story on various different blogs etc. I.e. have a look at this one: http://www.nakedmalenews.com/2008/05/melbournes-minders-decree-that-no-nudes.htmlAnd this is how my mail out invite ended up like:
Hi everyone,It has been a very strange week of media madness and an un-predictable twists to Trevor Flinn's and my show The Puma, The Stranger and The Mountain and it is still so fresh that I am not 100% sure what I think about it. The only thing i do know is that it is all happening on behalf of mine and Trevor's 12 month hard work; as this show never had the attention to be anything about nudity nor censorship. However once presented whith this obstacle it is hard to look away. And in hope to justify the events I have worked closely with Next Wave and Platform to try to create a good outcome for: 1./ the actual show 2./ the censorship discussion. The first date is now on Friday the 16th of May 2008, which is the official opening date for our show as well as Hiromi Tango's beautiful work Absence which is all a part of the Next Wave Festival 2008. More info at: http://2008.nextwave.org.au/. Our opening and the Degraves Street Subway will also be visited by the architectural project and the 'inflatable art bar': the Esky (Keg de Souza and Christie Petsinis) during this evening. Read more about the Esky on: http://www.whereisesky.com/. During this opening evening, I believe that the City Council of Melbourne has promised that we can show my entire work (without black-cloth-censorship) as Platform is during this night changing from being a public space to an enclosed art space for a few hours. So please, come and join us all for an exciting evening and drinks in the name of Closer Together and Next Wave Festival! Opening runs from 6-8 pm @ Degraves Street Subway Melbourne: http://platformartistsgroup.blogspot.com/ The second date to put in your calendar is Friday the 30th of May 2008, @ 5 pm which is the date that I, with much help and support from Next Wave and Platform, have organised as the time for the open discussion of censorship of art in public spaces. My censured work will be 'reviled' during this evening, however rather than that this event will be turned into a 'peepshow' of my work, I would like us all to contemplate questions of what censorship is and how the decision making process of the censorship is executed. As well as a member from Next Wave and Platform, someone from the City Council of Melbourne will be present during this forum to answer anyone's questions regarding the censorship. The City Council of Melbourne decided to censor my work after one single member of the public made an complaint of male nudity in a public space. Both Next Wave and Platform have been 100% behind me when neither of us believe that the nature of my work is neither sexual nor provocative. However, when the City Council of Melbourne is a major sponsor of both Platform and Next Wave, the situation quickly turned into an very delicate situation. And we were given no other option than covering the work, something I accepted but refused to take a physical part of. I also refused to just 'cover up the genitals with black dots' when I believe that that were to sexualise the image, and put the focus on the genitals; something this work isn't about. Questions has been raised regarding on which grounds this has been judged, as the first point in the council's Protocol on Artworks: • To encourage lively, critical debate and public conversation in an understanding atmosphere. This contributes to the perception of Melbourne as a city which manages its arts and related issues, however contentious, in an intelligent and informed manner (Protocol on Artworks, City of Melbourne 2005) Furthermore the situation has provoked questions regarding gender issues; as full fronted female nudes has been exhibited at Platform before without any complaints or censor actions - and as this is one of the a reoccurring subject in my art practice I am more then welcoming this conversation (Funny enough thou that this particular body of work 'The Puma(...)' was not meant to provoke any questions regarding this matter. However, my work has been in the subject of censorship before when i.e. my 'Three Wolfmen' performance during the Melbourne Art Fair 2007 was told "to cover up their (male) nipples or leave", even thou the rest of the Art Fair was full of everything from David Bromley's golden nipples to other explicit nude female images incl. genitalia.)All I can ask is: What is that all about? I have in this email attached my artist statement for The Puma, The Stranger and The Mountain, which includes a short response to what have happen with this 'shock-of-the-nude-cover-up-outcry' (The Age 11th May 2008). To read the article from The Age 11th May 2008 go to; http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/05/10/1210131335180.html Thank you for your time. Regards Cecilia Fogelberg
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posted by cecilia fogelberg at 11:53 PM
1 Comments:
yes, definately more penis's in public spaces, they make me chuckle.
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