[Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Religious peoplel should be careful about the aesthetic sensitivities  
of artists and of those committed to the arts. Religion too can  
flourish without delving into such sensitive and touchy issues (such  
as the right to freedom of expression) which may have emotional  
importance for some people.

The substance of religion is for the consumption of people but it  
should not consume the consumer itself.The religious zealot should  
know this very well.He should not try to play with their aesthetic  
and artistic commitments just for his/her cheap fun.A religious  
zealot who is not sensitive to the imagination and creativity  of the  
people at large is not an a person with any sense of the sacred at  
all. Religion is (apparently, or so say many people who are sincerely  
religious) not an end in itself.It is for the people and for the good  
of  society.

Shuddha



On 25-Aug-08, at 7:52 PM, Prabhakar Singh wrote:

> Artists should be careful about the cultural or religious  
> sensitivities of the people.Art can flourish even without delving  
> on such sensitive and touchy issues which may have emotional  
> importance for some people.
> Prabhakar
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
> To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Sent: Monday, 25 August, 2008 6:30:19 PM
> Subject: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi
>
> Dear all,
>
> Once again, with depressing, monotonous and disgusting
> predictability, a group of hooligans affiliated to the Hindutva
> (Hindu Fundamentalist) agenda who call themselves the 'Shri Ram Sena'
> have attacked and ransacked a small exhibition in Delhi of images by
> and about the nonegarian painter M. F. Husain, The exhibition was
> held on the premises of the office of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial
> Trust (SAHMAT) in Delhi, to protest against the decision by the
> orgnaizers of an Art Summit in Delhi to exclude work by Husain citing
> reasons of security. This incident demonstrates, yet again, how
> inimical the forces of Hindutva are to an open society and to the
> freedom of expression.
>
> See -  http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Husain-photo-
> exhibition-vandalised-yet-again/352835/ for a report in the Indian
> Express that carries details of the incident.
>
> This list has discussed such attacks on freedom of expression before,
> and just as we have had forthright criticism of Muslim
> fundamentalists attacking Taslima Nasrin, and the CPI (M) led West
> Bengal government making it impossible for her to stay in Kolkata, so
> too, we must take into account this latest assault on cultural
> liberty.  I appeal to all to condemn this attack on the freedom of
> expression.
>
> regards
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net