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Curator calls CCP exhibit closure 'a bad precedent'
The curator of a controversial art exhibit has deplored the decision of the Cultural Center of the Philippines to close the public display on Tuesday, almost two weeks before it was scheduled to end. In a statement issued Wednesday, curator J. Pacena II said: "As the curator of the exhibit, a student of art, an art educator and a practicing multimedia artist, I deplore this repression." Pacena is also a participant in the exhibit Kulo which features works by 32 artists, including Mideo Cruz's mixed-media collage called "Poleteismo" — which was criticized as "blasphemous" and then vandalized last week. "The latest pronouncement of the CCP Board sets a bad precedent. Our right to freely express ourselves were curtailed. I am shocked and appalled by how our civil liberties were exploited to satiate the sensibilities of a raucous mob. In effect, majority of the participants’ ideas and artistic expressions were neglected and compromised by this decision," Pacena said. Earlier, the CCP Board of Directors, citing security reasons, closed down the main gallery where the exhibit "Kulo" is on display. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the CCP said threats to persons and property influenced the management's decision to close down the gallery. "Due to numerous emails, text messages and other letters sent to various officers of the CCP, and to the artists themselves, with an increasing number of threats to persons and property, the members of the Board of the Cultural Center of the Philippines have decided to close down the Main Gallery where the Kulo Exhibit is on display," it said. Reacting to the decision, Pacena said: "It is upsetting that the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Board of Directors succumbed to the pressure by permanently closing the exhibit. "The manner by which various opinions were discussed, presented and circulated was frustrating if not disheartening," he added.
