By DANIEL LEAL / AFP
While Julian Assange is currently imprisoned in London, the UK capital will soon host an exhibition focusing on freedom of speech in contemporary societies. Copies of some of the classified US diplomatic cables published by the WikiLeaks founder will be exhibited as part of the show.
While Julian Assange is currently imprisoned in London, the UK capital will soon host an exhibition focusing on freedom of speech in contemporary societies. Copies of some of the classified US diplomatic cables published by the WikiLeaks founder will be exhibited as part of the show.
These documents form part of the hundreds of thousands of confidential reports and US diplomatic cables that Julian Assange and his organization made public in 2010, with the help of several major international media outlets. They concern the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and American diplomacy. At the time, it was the largest leak of secret documents in history.
The US authorities have accused Julian Assange of espionage since the disclosure of this series of top secret documents, and are seeking to have him extradited to the United States. He faces a sentence of 175 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. The WikiLeaks founder is currently being held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison, having previously spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy.
The "States of Violence" exhibition seeks to "unite the people who support both Wikileaks and Julian Assange," as Wikileaks ambassador, Joseph Farrell, and Wau Holland Foundation art consultant, Chloe Schlosberg, explained to The Art Newspaper. The exhibition will take place from March 24 to April 8 in the London premises of the arts organization a/political, to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the detention of Julian Assange in the British capital.
Visitors will be able to view artworks that illustrate the various forms of institutional violence and oppression used by governments to target dissidents. The show will include works by Ai Weiwei, Dread Scott, Regina José Galindo, Santiago Sierra and the duo Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps. While the curators of "States of Violence" are still finalizing the exhibition, they have said that it will include several creations by the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Indeed, the fashion designer had a close relationship with the WikiLeaks founder.
The exhibition organizers hope that this initiative will make people rethink their relationship with freedom of speech. This is why they plan to give visitors to "States of Violence" the opportunity to see some of the diplomatic cables revealed in the context of the WikiLeaks affair, as soon as they enter the premises of a/political. A symbolic gesture that could, in theory, lead to them being prosecuted by the American justice system for violating the 1917 Espionage Act. "Without a free press you cannot have democracy. The fight is for all of our rights, not just for Julian Assange’s freedom. Art and this exhibition is the perfect forum to tell the story of states of violence," said Joseph Farrell and Chloe Schlosberg, speaking to The Art Newspaper.
