Contemporary issues of censorship and freedom of expression in Northern Ireland and beyond come under the spotlight at the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus this week, when leading researchers from Ireland and the UK gather for a one-day conference.
Organised by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Commission on Censorship and Freedom of Expression in collaboration with the Research Institute for Art and Design (RIAD), University of Ulster, the Regional Colloquium on Censorship and the Visual Arts will take place in the Conor Lecture Theatre on the Belfast campus from 10.30am – 17.30pm on Thursday December 6, 2012.
Speakers will include:
Professor Kerstin Mey (University for the Creative Arts, Farnham):
‘I know it when I see it’ – Obscenity and Censorship.
Filmmaker Anne Crilly (University of Ulster):
Presentation on the banning of the documentary, ‘Mother Ireland’.
Dr Greg McLaughlin (University of Ulster):
‘Whatever you say, say nothing!’ Media censorship and self-censorship in the Northern Ireland conflict.
Dr Aislinn O’Donnell and Jonathan Cummins (University of Limerick/University of Ulster):
Freedom to Speak: Indirect Censorship, Censorship of Self.
Dr Derval Turbridy (Goldsmiths’ College, London):
Knowing Bloody Sunday: A Question of Adjacency.
Chair of the AICA International Commission on Censorship and Freedom of Expression and Colloquium organiser, Professor Liam Kelly, from the University of Ulster, said: “This is the first regional/national colloquium that AICA has organised. As an organisation, AICA firmly believes that freedom of expression is an important principle and as a basic civil right must be honoured and defended.
“While the topic of censorship is always pertinent and requires constant vigilance it seems particularly appropriate to examine it at the moment with the publication of TheLeveson Enquiry, the resignation of the editor of The Irish Star over the paper's publication of topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge and the recent publication of Salman Rushdie's memoir ‘Joseph Anton’related to his experience of the fatwa issued on the publication of his earlier novel , ‘The Satanic Verses’.”
The Regional Colloquium on Censorship and the Visual Arts will take place in the Conor Lecture Theatre on the Belfast campus from 10.30am – 17.30pm. The event is free and members of the public and media representatives are invited to attend. For further information, contact: Professor Liam Kelly (l.kelly1@ulster.ac.uk) or Dr Cherie Driver (c.driver@ulster.ac.uk).
Notes to editors:
The International Association of Art Critics (AICA)
The International Association of Art Critics (AICA) is an NGO official partner of UNESCO, founded in 1950, whose objective it is to support art criticism in all its forms, worldwide and to keep pace with its changing disciplines. AICA’s head office, located in Paris, represents and promotes the activities of the Association’s 4,600 members, grouped into 61 different Sections, throughout the world. The Association overheads are entirely financed by the subscriptions of its Ordinary Members, Honorary Members and Patrons.
As an organisation the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) firmly believes that freedom of expression is an important principle and as a basic civil right must be honoured and defended.
To that end In 2010 AICA established a Commission on Censorship and Freedom of Expression under the chairmanship of Professor Liam Kelly.
Since then the commission has been regularly monitoring, reviewing and responding to cases of censorship worldwide, often in association with relevant AiCA national sections.
This has involved, inter alia, writing letters of protest on behalf of artists to politicians as well as galleries and various cultural agencies. Besides a need for constant local and global vigilance and action in this regard, AICA also believes there is a need for educational advocacy and discourse.
Consequently, the AICA Commission on Censorship and Freedom of Expression in collaboration with the Research Institute for Art and Design (RIAD), University of Ulster, presents this one-day colloquium.