More U-turns over art gallery ‘apartheid’ row

THE WHITWORTH Art Gallery in Manchester is continuing to make U-turns over a controversial exhibition that described Israel as having “ethnically cleansed” the Palestinians, triggering a furious row.

When it opened, the exhibition — by the research group Forensic Architecture and titled Cloud Studies — displayed the provocative statement at its entrance under the heading, “Forensic Architecture stands with Palestine”.

The show purported to detail the environmental effects of Israel’s military action in Gaza and the West Bank – as well as looking at “toxic clouds” in places such Indonesia, Argentina, Hong Kong, the UK, US, Mexico, Turkey and Lebanon.

Manchester University, which runs the gallery, said it would drop the controversial statement after protests from the North West Friends of Israel, the Manchester Jewish Representative Council, and UK Lawyers for Israel.

But following counter protests and pressure from supporters of the Palestinians,

the university made a second U-turn and said the exhibition would continue in its original form.

In the latest twist, however, the gallery has said there will soon be three separate statements at the entrance to the Whitworth Art Gallery: a Forensic Architecture statement, in which Israel is described as an “apartheid state” which has engaged in “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians; a counterstatement from the Jewish community; and a counter-counter statement from the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians, giving a legal opinion as to why Forensic Architecture was correct to use such terms.

Forensic Architecture’s director, Israeli Eyal Weizman admitted that the situation was “a mishegas” and added that not every cultural contention necessarily needed “balance”. The exhibition, together with its blizzard of opinion, is due to run for another month.

There will soon be three separate statements at the entrance