(Photo credit: @BPaletine)

Elham Asaad Buaras

Over 20 artists, among whom Turner Prize winners, have issued a public letter denouncing Manchester University’s “capitulation” to pro-Israeli pressure after the university forced its acclaimed art gallery director to resign for approving an exhibition with a statement of solidarity with Palestine.

Alistair Hudson was reportedly asked to step down from his post as Director of the Whitworth Art Gallery following a statement of solidarity with Palestine displayed in the Cloud Studies exhibition. This was devised by the investigative agency Forensic Architecture and examined human rights violations linked to air toxicity in Beirut, Syria, Louisiana, the US, as well as Palestine.

The controversy dates from August, when the statement of solidarity was removed after a complaint by the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). Over 1,400 have also signed a petition calling for the university to rescind its pressure on Hudson to resign, and hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors demonstrated outside the Whitworth Art Gallery on March 1.

Forensic Architecture, whose digital models of crime scenes have been cited as evidence at the International Criminal Court, then demanded the immediate closure of its exhibit. IIts founder, Eyal Weizman, a British-Israeli professor at Goldsmiths, expressed concerns about academic and artistic freedoms, as well as the importance of including Palestinians in the equality duty.

Signatories’ of the letter include former Turner prize winners Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo, and Tai Shani, who are among the 48 participating in British Art Show 9 (BAS 9), a survey of “new directions in contemporary art” from artists throughout the UK. The show, organised every five years by the Hayward Gallery in London, is scheduled to stop in Aberdeen, Plymouth, and Wolverhampton, in addition to Manchester.

The letter’s signatories have said they will pull their work from the Manchester show “unless meaningful reparative measures are taken.”

A spokesman for the University of Manchester said: “Staffing matters are strictly internal to the university, and we do not comment on questions of this nature, including those concerning our current Whitworth Art Gallery director.” It is also unclear if Hudson will be required to stand down from his other post as the director of the Manchester Art Gallery.

The row has prompted a wave of criticism on social media from artists. Helen Nisbet, the Artistic Director of Art Night, said: “Adding my voice to say how hellish this is, and standing in solidarity with Alistair.” Jeremy Millar, a senior tutor at the Royal College of Art in London, said on Twitter: “This is an absolute f*king disgrace—[Hudson] is one of the most creative and thoughtful museum directors in this country.”

Cloud Studies, which opened on July 2, 2021, surveyed instances of chemical attacks and pollution across the world. In addition, they addressed the use of tear gas and white phosphorous in Palestine.

UKLFI tells the Art Newspaper that it particularly objected to the introductory statement in Cloud Studies, which included the text: “Forensic Architecture stands with Palestine. While working on this exhibition, we witnessed with horror yet another attack by Israel’s occupation forces on Palestinians.

Partners and friends in Gaza told us first-hand about their experiences of the attacks that destroyed multi-storey buildings, homes, the offices of news organisations, schools, hospitals, and businesses.”

UKLFI and several Manchester-based Israeli lobby bodies met with Nalin Thakkar, the Vice-President of the University of Manchester, who agreed to remove the text in its entirety.

This decision prompted Forensic Architecture to pull its work from the show in protest. Hudson later announced that the exhibition would reopen “in full” with the text displayed in its entirety.

Yesterday he posted an image on Instagram with a passage by the author Lucia Sanroman that says: “To feel and deal with powerlessness, with trauma.”

At the time of publication, he had not responded to a request for further comment. “The work [the exhibition] presented contained serious inaccuracies and no attempt had been made by the gallery to check its accuracy,” says Jonathan Turner, the Chief Executive of UKLFI.

He adds, “The claim that Israeli bombing of terrorist targets in Gaza produced earthquakes and ‘airquakes’ was particularly egregious.”

In a statement, Forensic Architecture said: “All members of FA are shocked and enraged at this blatant punishment and vengeful attempt to suppress solidarity with Palestinians who continue to face violent human rights abuses and apartheid by Israel in Palestine and beyond.”

According to the missive, the response to Forensic Architecture’s statement of solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle was an attack on political freedom and artistic expression.

“We believe there is neither space for such actions nor possible engagement with the university and its platforms, especially when the public expression is limited, and evidence of human rights violations is obscured. “Truth needs to be made public, and cultural spaces have to remain open for difficult discussions.”