Episode 28 - Stop cancelling artists!

The ongoing issue of artist cancellation is of serious concern. Public pressure to cancel artists’ exhibitions, performances or publications because their views are consider ‘unacceptable’ to some people, and the willingness of some institutions to concede to such complaints, is a serious infringement of the right to freedom of expression. Not only does it potentially destroy the livelihoods of individual artists, it creates a climate of constraint … an atmosphere where artists do not feel free, as they should be, to explore and examine and create work that perhaps challenges the way we think about the world around us. Freedom in the Arts recently published a report showing a worrying trend that artists are increasingly afraid to speak out:Drawing on real experiences from across the sector, the report identifies a chilling effect that disproportionately silences emerging or marginal voices. It highlights how politically sensitive topics—such as gender identity, Israel-Palestine, and race—have become virtually off-limits, undermining the open debate and creative risk-taking that define the arts. We have now done several episodes examining this problem, trying to show why the new authoritarianism towards the arts is so problematic (see episodes 21,23, 24 & 25). This further episode is the first of two podcasts with the artist, Claudia Clare. In the first episode, following up on her interview with Rachel Jordan earlier this year about dissident artists (Episode 16), Claudia tells us about her and other artists’ experiences of cancellation. In the next episode she talks about her own work as a supremely gifted ceramicist.There is no doubt that artworks that express a clear political perspective are not necessarily just propaganda: they can also be art, as Claudia indicates in this episode. And you don’t have to like the propaganda in order to love the artistry of a work. Whether art can change the world is something for another discussion, but artists — like everyone else — should be allowed to express a viewpoint, whether in their art or elsewhere, even if it makes people feel uncomfortable or ‘offended’.Claudia has been working as a ceramicist since the mid 1980s, and she makes beautiful pots with political intent. Because her work can be challenging to contemporary sensibilities, and because she is also an outspoken gender critical feminist, she has faced cancellation a number of times over the past 15 years or so, since cancellation became fashionable as a contemporary form of censorship.She was invited to curate the exhibition of cancelled artists for the Women Create conference that took place in May this year. This conference was organised by performance artist, Victoria Guggenheim, to bring together women artists who have faced cancellation or exclusion because of their views. Over 30 female artists were represented in the exhibition, all of them affected, one way or another, by contemporary intolerance towards dissent. These artists included gender critical feminists, apostates from Islam, and Zionists. Note: During this episode, Claudia refers a couple of times to Maya Forstater, the gender critical activist whose case against her employer established that gender critical views are protected as a belief under the Equality Act 2010. This case has been extremely important in pushing back against attempts by trans activists to censor people, including artists, who publicly assert the well-known fact that women are adult human females.We hope you enjoy this podcast, and welcome (constructive, feedback and new suggestions. If you are an artist who have faced cancellation please let do us know your story. And you might want to check out Freedom in the Arts website for support. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

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