Installation Featuring Slavery Cancelled in London
Show directed by South African Brett Bailey, cancelled by the Barbican Art Gallery following protest. The installation features colonial history of slavery.
On the opening night in London on September 23rd, two hundred protesters blockaded the entrance after art venue officials ignored an online petition with nearly 20,000 signatures opposing the show.
Visitors were invited to witness a historical reconstruction of a “human zoo”, a popular phenomenon in Europe and America in the 19th century. The main objects of the installation were actors of African origin arranged as living sculptures. According to Bailey his main goal was to offer a reminder of how far the world has come from the era of colonization’s treatment of humankind.
«Exhibit B» has previously has been shown in Avignon, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and will be presented in the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art from October 10th to 14th.
