Tagged with Sydney Biennale

Boycott, Divest, Disrupt: Strategies to End Mandatory Detention : Sydney, May 10

[In Sydney on Saturday, May 10 at UTS: University of Technology, Sydney, CB06.06.103, a panel discussion on strategies to end mandatory detention (Facebook).]

On March 7, the Sydney Biennale and Transfield announced that they would go their separate ways. This was the result of a boycott launched in response to Transfield having signed a $1.2 billion deal to expand its involvement into the internment camps on Manus Island and Nauru.

The boycott was launched by way of xBorder Operational Matters, and supported by groups such as Beyond Borders, RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-detainees, Students Thinking Outside Borders, and many other individuals and autonomous groups. Importantly, the result could not have been achieved without the ongoing struggles for freedom from those held inside Australia’s internment camps, and the determination of several Biennale artists and staff who withdrew their work from the festival and their value from the Transfield brand.

This was the first success of a campaign to expose the detention industry supply chains that rely on our acquiescence, our money and our labour for the camps to exist. The most effective way to end mandatory detention, therefore, is to make the system inoperable.

This panel is being held to discuss the future direction of this campaign. Specifically, we would like to address the following:

1. Expand upon the success of the Biennale boycott to a wider divestment campaign, including the divestment of superannuation funds, banks, universities, charities from the internment industry

2. Explore the links between the various components of Australia’s racial confinement and control industry (mandatory detention, Aboriginal incarceration, the Intervention, Code of Conduct)

3. Discuss the connections between the Far Right and the militarisation of the border

4. Address how the border of Australia’s colonial state, and divisions of labour along racialised and gendered lines, limits activism and effective action around the border.

[See also : A Few Words About Amigdaleza [Anarchist Prisoners’ Network, August 2013] (April 19, 2014).]

[#19BOS] List of Biennale of Sydney artistes w contact deets

Update (March 7) : Late this afternoon the Biennale Board announced the resignation of its chair, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, and the immediate suspension of its contract with its major sponsor, Transfield.

Briefly: this is a potentially significant step forward in the campaign to close the offshore prison camps, the murderous hellholes to which the Australian state confines thousands of asylum seekers. The camps generate both enormous harm for their inmates and very large incomes for the companies which run them, including Transfield. They operate in violation of both international law and basic human decency. Given the massively profitable nature of the industry, bi-partisan political, elite and strong popular support for the policy of mandatory detention, however, their closure remains a distant prospect at this stage …

Update (March 5) : Today four more artists — Nathan Gray, Agnieszka Polska, Sara van der Heide and Nicoline van Harskamp — have decided to boycott Transfield’s Biennale (read their statement here). Otherwise: ABC’s Radio National has been brought on board by the corporation, while several workers employed by the Biennale have also chosen to withdraw their labour.

The Transfield Biennale of Sydney begins March 21, one day before the Sydney Anarchist Bookfair.

LOL.

The following is an A-Z list of the roughly 100 artistes scheduled to exhibit on behalf of Transfield and, where possible, contact details.

As of this date [February 28: see Update] 5 artistes — Libia Castro, Ólafur Ólafsson, Gabrielle de Vietri, Ahmet Öğüt and Charlie Sofo — have withdrawn from the Biennale, while 47 [*] have signed an open letter of complaint to the Board re Transfield’s owner/sponsorship of the event. The 5 will presumably be joined by a number of other artistes in the intervening period, though how many is an open question. In any case, given that the Biennale runs over several months, there’ll be multiple opportunities to take action against it and to draw further attention to Transfield’s billion-dollar exploitation of refugees, as well as to promote a campaign of boycott, divestment and disruption of the state-corporate machinery directly perpetuating human rights abuses.

Or not …

#Straya

Sauce : #19BOS | See : Boycott Sydney Biennale | xb Ops

A

*Meriç Algün Ringborg [[email protected]]
*James Angus [rep by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery: [email protected]]
*Sol Archer [facebook // [email protected]]
*Benjamin Armstrong [rep by Tolarno Galleries (facebook): [email protected]]

B

*Rosa Barba
*Yael Bartana [rep by Petzel Gallery: [email protected] (press liaison)]
*Martin Boyce [rep by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery: [email protected]]
Broersen & Lukács
*Eglė Budvytytė [?]

C

Mircea Cantor [[email protected]]
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller [[email protected]]
*Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson
David Claerbout [rep by Galerie Micheline Szwajcer: [email protected]]
Bindi Cole [twitter]
*Nathan Coley
Joost Conijn
Michael Cook
Henry Coombes
Hubert Czerepok [rep by Zak Gallery: [email protected]]

D

Kate Daw [rep by Sarah Scout Presents: [email protected]]
*Gabrielle de Vietri
Tacita Dean [rep by Marian Goodman Gallery: twitter | facebook // rep by Frith Street Gallery: [email protected]]
Yingmei Duan [[email protected]]
*Mikala Dwyer [rep by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery: [email protected] // Anna Schwartz Gallery: [email protected]]

E

*Krisztina Erdei [[email protected]]

F

*Fine Art Union [facebook // [email protected] // [email protected]]
Aurélien Froment [rep by Marcelle Alix: [email protected]]
*Søren Thilo Funder [[email protected]]
*Bodil Furu [[email protected]]

G

Douglas Gordon [rep by Gagosian Gallery: [email protected]]
*Nathan Gray [twitter // [email protected]]
*Joseph Griffiths [[email protected]]
*Ane Hjort Guttu [[email protected]]

H

*Hadley+Maxwell [[email protected]]
Henrik Håkansson
*Henna-Riikka Halonen [[email protected] // [email protected]]
*Siri Hermansen [[email protected]]
*Bianca Hester [facebook]
*Matt Hinkley [[email protected]]
Roni Horn [?]
*Sasha Huber [[email protected]]

K

Agnieszka Kalinowska [rep by BWA Warszawa: [email protected]]
*Mikhail Karikis [[email protected]]
*Tamás Kaszás
*Deborah Kelly
Eva Koch [[email protected]]
Ignas Krunglevicius [twitter]

L

Jim Lambie
*Sonia Leber and David Chesworth [[email protected]]
Gabriel Lester [twitter // [email protected]]
Norman Leto [facebook]
Zilla Leutenegger
Victoria Pihl Lind [?]
Ann Lislegaard [[email protected]]
Liu Bingye and Zhang Wenhua [?]
Marko Lulić [[email protected]]

M

*Ross Manning [[email protected]]
Renzo Martens
*Daniel McKewen [twitter // [email protected]]
*Angelica Mesiti [[email protected]]
Laurent Montaron [rep by Schleicher Lange: [email protected]]
TV Moore [[email protected]]
*Callum Morton [rep by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery: [email protected]]

N

Susan Norrie [Norrie sits on the Board of MCA: [email protected] (media & public relations)]

O

*Ahmet Öğüt
Mel O’Callaghan [[email protected]]

P

Tinka Pittoors [[email protected]]
Mathias Poledna [rep by Galerie Meyer Kainer: [email protected]]
*Agnieszka Polska

R

Randi & Katrine
Augustin Rebetez and Noé Cauderay
Pipilotti Rist
Ugo Rondinone [rep by Sadie Coles: [email protected]]
Maxime Rossi [[email protected]]
*Eva Rothschild [rep by 303 Gallery: [email protected]]
*Emily Roysdon [twitter // [email protected]]

S

Yhonnie Scarce [twitter]
Wael Shawky [rep by Sfeir-Semler Gallery: [email protected]/[email protected]]
Ann-Sofi Sidén and Jonathan Bepler [facebook]
*Charlie Sofo [twitter]
Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger [[email protected]]
John Stezaker [rep by Richard Gray Gallery: [email protected]]
Christine Streuli [rep by Galerie Rupert Pfab: [email protected]]
Taca Sui
*Corin Sworn [rep by Zeiher Smith:[email protected]]

T

*Shannon Te Ao [twitter]
Anna Tuori [[email protected]]

V

*Sara van der Heide [[email protected]]
Nicoline van Harskamp [[email protected]]
Ulla Von Brandenburg [rep by Pilar Corrias // facebook]

W

*Emily Wardill [rep by Jonathan Viner: [email protected]]
*Tori Wrånes

Z

Zhao Zhao [rep by Alexander Ochs Galleries: [email protected]]

[NB. The following artistse signed the Open Letter to the Board of the Sydney Biennale From Participating Artists: Meriç Algün Ringborg, James Angus, Sol Archer, Benjamin Armstrong, Rosa Barba, Yael Bartana, Martin Boyce, Eglė Budvytytė, Libia Castro, David Chesworth, Nathan Coley, Gabrielle de Vietri, Mikala Dwyer, Krisztina Erdei, Søren Thilo Funder, Bodil Furu, Nathan Gray, Joseph Griffiths, Ane Hjort Guttu, Hadley+Maxwell, Henna-Riikka Halonen, Siri Hermansen, Bianca Hester, Matt Hinkley, Sasha Huber, Annette Stav Johanssen (Fine Art Union), Mikhail Karikis, Tamas Kaszas, Deborah Kelly, Sonia Leber, Ross Manning, Daniel McKewen, Angelica Mesiti, Callum Morton, Ahmet Öğüt, Ólafur Ólafsson, Agnieszka Polska, Eva Rothschild, Emily Roysdon, Charlie Sofo, Corin Sworn, Shannon Te Ao, Sara van der Heide, Emily Wardill, Synnøve G. Wetten (Fine Art Union), Tori Wrånes.]

The SUWA Show, Friday, February 28 : Interviews w Liz Thompson [#ManusIsland] & Alana Lentin [#19BOS]

Tomorrow on the ‘Floating Anarchy’ edition of The SUWA Show (5.30pm Friday, February 28 on 855AM, streaming live on 3CR) Dr Cam & I have a yarn with Liz Thompson about Manus Island and Alana Lentin on the Biennale of Sydney. You may remember Liz from such shows as I Was Told To Lie (Dateline) and Alana from The Case for Open Borders (overland).

Otherwise, see : Cross Border Operational Matters blog & Boycott Sydney Biennale website.

[#19BOS] Transfield Money Talks, Biennale Walks …

“The Biennale of Sydney has taken the correct and only viable course of maintaining its partnership with Transfield.”
~ Matthew Westwood, The Australian, February 25, 2014

“Well I just think that there’s a lot of black noise here where the public discourse has been taken over by these people concerned about the refugee situation — and that’s fair enough that people are concerned about [the] refugee situation — but to target the Biennale as they have targetted [it] with this perceived sponsorship of Transfield Services is I find it offensive to start with and I find it misleading at best … What I object to is people that are trying to exploit, if you like, this public event for their political agenda as important as that political agenda might be. It’s not for them to take a position within the event when they actually have no particular role within the event … What I object to, strongly, is that people outside of the Biennale are now critical of the Biennale for not somehow addressing the issue of refugee rights when in fact there is such tenuous connection or indeed, not only just tenuous, but there’s an argument that nothing that the Biennale or its supporters is doing is wrogn.”
~ Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, PM, February 24, 2014

“The boycott, like the social-media protest, will work short-term just, as Milliss has it “to assuage art world feelings of powerlessness or horror”.”
~ Helen Razer, Daily Review, February 20, 2014

Blah blah blah.

‘Transfield Services shares soar after it wins offshore detention centre contract’, Ben Butler, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 25, 2014:

Investors in Transfield Services have turned a blind eye to political risk attached to a $1.22 billion immigration detention centre contract, sending shares in the facilities management group soaring.

Transfield shares climbed 24.5 per cent to 99¢ in heavy trade on Monday after the company said the Abbott government had granted it a 20-month contract to operate a centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea that has been beset by deadly violence.

The new deal expands on Transfield’s existing contract to run the government’s other offshore detention centre, on Nauru, and increases the amount the government will pay to run the two centres from about $39 million a month to about $61 million a month.

Transfield, which was until October chaired by Tony Shepherd, who is heading the government’s Commission of Audit, replaces UK-listed G4S. Violence at the centre last week claimed the life of one detainee and forced the Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, to admit he had initially provided incorrect information about the fracas…

• There have been several sources of ‘correct information’ regarding events and processes at Manus Island in the past few days. Former administration worker and interpreter Azita Bokan was interviewed by Richard Glover on ABC Sydney last Friday (February 21, 2014) while migration agent Liz Thompson has been interviewed by Marni Cordell for New Matilda and by Mark Davis on Dateline (February 25, 2014). Both were compelled to blow the whistle on conditions at Manus and should be congratulated for their courage in doing so.

• Immigration lawyer Wenny Theresia has penned a response to the letter by the Board of the Biennale of Sydney — the one in which it pledged undying loyalty to the Belgiorno-Nettis family, declared that the Biennale is synonymous with the Transfield brand, and which was in turn a response to the ‘Open Letter to the Board of the Sydney Biennale From Participating Artists’ (February 19, 2014) — which you can read on the xclnt xBorderOperationalMatters blog here. Tomorrow it will be the artists turn to respond.

• Finally, this Saturday in Melbourne there will be a rally at the State Library at 1pm to demand the closure of the prison camps on Manus and Nauru.

Bonus Chomsky on Democracy!

#19BOS Action: Biennale of Sydney and Transfield [5.30pm, Monday, February 24, Melbourne]

[Update (February 24) : ACCA cancelled the address by the Biennale director promoting the event citing security concerns (Melbourne arts event halted over fears of mass protest over involvement of Transfield Services, ABC). About 50 or so people rocked up anyways and had a yarn about the Biennale. My prediction? Things are gonna get worse …]

Monday in Melbourne:

Stage a creative protest outside ACCA during their talk promoting the 19th Biennale of Sydney, in order to draw attention to Transfield’s sponsorship of the event. Please share ideas regarding peaceful, creative actions that can be undertaken outside the venue.

The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art is located at 11 Sturt Street, Southbank, Melbourne.

See also : Open letter from artists to the Board of Directors of the Biennale of Sydney [#19BOS] (February 19, 2014) | Boycott the 19th Biennale of Sydney [#19bos] (February 14, 2014) | The Biennale boycott and diversity of tactics, Matt, xborderoperationalmatters, February 19, 2014.