The undersigned in accordance with law No. 85/1990 Coll. on the right to petition and the Bill of Rights are appealing to the Council of the City of Prague on a matter of public concern. We ask the Council to consider the reasons that lead to the forced closure of the ARTWALL Gallery run by the Center of Contemporary Art Prague.
The ARTWALL Gallery located on the kpt. Jaroše and Edvarda Beneše Embankment under Letná since 2005 was forcedly closed down in a response to the exhibition “Collective Identity” presented in may 2008 by the art group Guma Guar.
This exhibition criticized the “making of consent” in a democratic society where the public opinion is produced by means of PR strategies, and oftentimes paid by the tax money. In this particular case the artists reacted to the campaign “We Are All in the National Team” run by an association Praha Olympijská (Prague Olympical) that tried - with the aid of popular actors and actresses - to persuade Czech citizens that Prague should become a host city for the 2016 Olympic Games. In their critical response the Guma Guar group used the logo and slogan of the original campaign together with portraits of Czech entrepreneurs known for their financial criminality, corruption, and their close ties with local politicians.
Praha Olympijská association followed by the Municipality considered this appropriation of a registered logo unlawful in spite of our affirmation that the logo was used in a non-commercial context and therefore in accordance with the law (the law 441/2003 Coll., § 8, art. 2 bans any unauthorized use of a registered logo only within the commercial context).
Regardless of these explanations, municipal authorities withdrew on May 27th 2008 from the leasing contract with the art group Rafani that rented out the space to the Center of Contemporary Art Prague.
We assume that the reasoning used by the Municipality to explain the withdrawal from the contract is just a pretext. Instead, the Municipality of the City of Prague seems to carry out a “vengeance” on the ARTWALL Gallery for the critical art project by Guma Guar. This practice recalls strategies used by various totalitarian regimes that mask their censorship by legal reasons. We consider it scandalous that this practice of indirect censorship that resulted in liquidation of an art gallery takes place within a democratic society.
Hence the undersigned ask, on the basis of § 7 letter c) of law 131/2000 Coll. on the City of Prague, the Council of the City of Prague to consider the following matters:
1) To examine the reasons on behalf of which have the municipal authorities unilaterally withdrawn from the leasing contract with the art group Rafani.
2) To aid the renewal of the ARTWALL gallery in its original site.
We also ask the Council of the City of Prague to prevent this case from becoming a sad precedent of a new political censorship directed against critical art as well as the critical response within our society.
On 12th of November in Prague.
This petition is presented on behalf of the petition committee by Mgr. Zuzana Štefková, of age citizen of the city of Prague, residing in Za Strahovem 19, 169 00 Prague 6, Curator of the ARTWALL gallery
Za příspěvek na provoz domény děkuji firmě Component s.r.o. a její prodejně notebooků.
Webmaster: www.stromateis.eu