Thursday, April 21, 2011

Calling on China to Respect Human Rights!

FREE AI WEIWEI!




CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF AI WEIWEI

Greetings,

To the Honorable Minister Mr. Cai Wu

Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China

Our museums are members of The International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM), a non-governmental organization with formal relations with UNESCO. On April 6, CIMAM sent a communiqué calling for the release of Ai Weiwei. Our museums, foundations, and communities of Facebook fans and Twitter followers support CIMAM's statement:

"The detention of artists and activists is not only inconsistent with China's commitment to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in China's own constitution, it is also inconsistent with the Chinese government's pledge, through the Ministry of Culture, to promote all artistic disciplines and to advance artistic ideas. As organizations that represent modern and contemporary art around the world, such actions and the obscurity surrounding them are diametrically opposed to our values. They are of grave concern and consequence for the well-being of Ai Weiwei and for the artistic community at large, and hinder future collaboration with the Chinese colleagues we welcomed at our recent annual meeting in Shanghai."

请愿书

致 中华人民共和国文化部 蔡武

诉求: 要求释放艾未未

本博物馆為国际博物馆协会(ICOM)之成员。也為其下负责现代美术之博物馆暨收藏国际委员会(CIMAM)之委员,此委员会虽非为政府机构,但与联合国教科文组织有着正式的关系。我们在此支持国际委员会于四月六日所发表之请求释放艾未未的声明:

"对艺术家及人权份子的拘捕,不仅违反了中国在国际人权宣言以及宪法中对于基本人权的保障,同时与中国政府藉由文化部所宣导,對於各式艺术创作及创意的提倡並不一致。身为代表着全球现当代艺术的机构,此做法与我们所深信的价值是背道而驰的。我们对于艾未未的人身安全以及整体艺术界感到深切的忧虑。此外,这也将影响我们于上海举行的年度会议中与中国艺术界所建立的合作关系."

Sign the petition to free Ai Weiwei here.

Here are the initiating signatories:
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
and Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art
Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Director General, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao,
and Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Glenn Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sir Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate and Chris Dercon, Director, Tate Modern
Kaywin Feldman, President, Association of Art Museum Directors and Director
and President, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Yongwoo Lee, President, The Gwangju Biennale Foundation
Michael Govan, Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Vishakha Desai, President and Melissa Chiu, Vice President of Global Arts, Asia Society
Jim Cuno, President and Director, Art Institute of Chicago
Julián Zugazagoitia, Director, Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Ann Philbin, Director, Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
Olga Viso, Director, Walker Art Center
Alfred Pacquement, Director, Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Paris
Arnold Lehman, Director, Brooklyn Museum
Jill Medvedow, Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes
and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London
Poul Erik Tøjner, Director, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Neal Benezra, Director, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Tony Ellwood, Director, and Suhanya Raffel, Deputy Director, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museums
Ann Goldstein, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Apinan Poshynanda, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Director, dOCUMENTA (13) and Bernd Leifeld, CEO, documenta
Manray Hsu, Founding Director, Taipei Contemporary Art Center
Holly Hotchner, Nanette L. Laitman Director, Museum of Arts and Design, New York

Joel Wachs, President, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Pittsburgh


Ai Weiwei arrest protests at Chinese embassies worldwide
Inspired by artist's installation with 1001 Qing dynasty seats, curator suggests taking chairs into street in silent protest


AND DO NOT FORGET:


Free Liu Xiaobo, free Liu Xiaobo, free Liu Xiaobo!

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