Canceled symposium invited by Mr. Tsuda Kobe City “Potential for adverse events” August 9, 18:38
In response to a series of criticism and intimidation of images of girls symbolizing the comfort women issue at the International Art Festival held in Aichi Prefecture, Kobe City became an art director at the art festival Daisuke Tsuda I decided to cancel the symposium that invited you.
This symposium was scheduled to be held on the 18th of this month with the theme of “Does art accept foreign objects?” As a project related to art events by Kobe City, including three journalists, Daisuke Tsuda.
However, after the exhibition was canceled due to a series of critical opinions and threats to the images of girls symbolizing the comfort women issue at the international art festival “Aichi Triennale” where Tsuda serves as an artistic director, Kobe City We decided to stop holding the symposium as it became difficult to have wide-ranging discussions.
The symposium executive committee entered this month, and there were about 100 protests such as “calling Mr. Tsuda is a problem” or “whether the girl image is on display”.
Regarding the cancellation of the symposium, Mr. Masato Miyake, Director of the Cultural Exchange Division of Kobe City, said, “Opening a symposium that invited Mr. Tsuda at this time led to discussions unrelated to art, such as the pros and cons of comfort women. We decided to cancel it because we judged that there were actually protests from citizens in the past few days and that the main art event in the fall could be adversely affected. I'm sorry for those who were looking forward to it. "
Mr. Tsuda "I'm very sorry."
Regarding the decision to cancel the participating symposium, Daisuke Tsuda said, “I'm sorry to imagine what kind of phone was rushed. On the other hand, the theme of this event is“ Is Art Accepting Foreign Objects? ” It ’s very regrettable that the government ’s cultural business is in danger and we ca n’t talk about freedom of expression and art events in an open place. ”