Spanish artist Santiago Sierra had planned to submerge the British Union Jack flag “in the blood of its colonized territories,” according to the call for donations earlier this month.
“We apologize to all First Nations people for any damage caused. We are sorry.”
CNN has contacted Sierra to comment.
The project was “open to First Nations peoples from countries claimed by the British Empire at some point in history, who reside in Australia,” according to a call for donations posted on Facebook on March 19th.
The artist Santiago Sierra is no stranger to controversy over his works. Credit: Crossbowmen / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Volunteers were asked to donate a “small amount of blood” to the artwork.
The project was quickly criticized on various platforms.
Kira Puru, an Australian musician of Maori descent, commented on Dark Mofo’s initial Instagram post: “What a way to reveal that there are no First Nations people on your curatorial / consulting teams,” and added: “Whites make the most of the literal blood of First Nations people.”
Noongar are Aboriginal Australians living in southwestern Australia.
“To ask First Nations people to donate blood to wet a flag is to recreate, not criticize, the unpleasant conditions of colonization,” Lynch wrote.
“He calls on a community on whose blood this Australian colony has been built, on a community that dies younger, sicker and more marginalized because of structural racism than anyone, that there is more blood to make a statement that do not refer to return or correct errors “.
Lynch emphasized that no payment was offered to donors, nor did Dark Mofo mention donations to indigenous organizations.
CNN has contacted Lynch for further comment.
“Self-expression is a fundamental human right and we support artists to do and present works regardless of their nationality or cultural background,” the message says.
However, the next day the festival announced the cancellation of the project. The rest of the festival will take place as scheduled from June 16-22 in Hobart, Tasmania.
Sierra is known for works that shock the public, including the transformation of a former synagogue in Germany into a gas chamber and the payment of four women he described as heroin-addicted “prostitutes” to have their backs tattooed on a single horizontal line.
1/10 – Divided Mother and Son (1993), Damien Hirst
There are art awards, and the Turner Prize, the terrible child of contemporary art awards.
Founded in 1984, the Turner Prize was designed to promote discussion about art in Britain by celebrating the most outstanding pieces a British artist made each year. Thirty years later, he is as well known for his prestige as for provoking debates with polarizing nominations. (Damien Hirst’s “Mother and Son (split)” winner, a cow and a calf split in formaldehyde, was a tabloid sensation.)
But the controversy surrounding certain works — nominated by Turner or not — speaks as much about the audience as it does about the artists. Credit:
Scarff Oils / Getty Images