León Ferrari: A Retrospective

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• The León Ferrari Issue (El caso León Ferrari)
•  In the
  Argentinean cultural sphere Leon Ferarri embodied resistance to repression and
  repudiation of violence, intolerance and abuses of power. A vehement advocate
  of freedom, Ferrari was a symbol of denouncement since early in his career and
  had been involved in one of the most representative works of the Argentinean
  democratic transition in 1983: the Nunca
  Más (Never Again). Nunca Más was one of the most emblematic
  documents of the return of democracy after the military regime in Argentina
  (1976-83) and stated a testimony of repudiation of the violence, repression and
  abuses the Junta Militar regime
  committed during its years in power.
•  The Ferrari
  issue involves the debate that an exhibition of Ferrari´s work caused in the
  Argentinean society in 2004. León
  Ferarri: Retrospectiva (León Ferrari: a retrospective), which exposed 50 years
  of the artist´s work was programmed to open on the last day of November 2004 in
  the Centro Cultural Recoleta
  (Recoleta Cultural Center), but even before the opening the more conservative
  sectors of the Argentinean society started to raise their voices.
•  The Centro Cultural Recoleta is situated in
  one of the most classic and beautiful parts of the city of Buenos Aires in
  Argentina. First used as a drawing school, then as an asylum the Recoleta
  Cultural Center is now, since the reestablishment of democracy in Argentina,
  one of the most representative Argentinean cultural references.
•  When the
  exposition was first announced there were some reactions, but nothing
  unexpected given the controversial and provocative nature of Ferrari´s work.
  However, the reaction triggered by the exposition was more hostile than any of
  the organizers had imagined. The most important representatives of the Catholic
  Church in Argentina sent messages to the press, society and governments asking
  for the closure of the exposition referring to it as blasphemous and an offense
  to catholic values and living. Conservative politicians asked for the same
  thing, along with the destitution of those in charge of organizing the exposition
  and private investors and sponsors of the exhibition withdrew their support. Radical
  conservatives irrupted the exhibition breaking some of the works of art and even
  assaulting exposition spectators.
•  Two days
  after the inauguration an ultra conservative catholic group called for a
  meeting outside the Church that was closest to the Cultural Center (La Iglesia del Pilar) and on the other
  hand, more tan 2000 intellectuals, politicians, human rights advocates and
  liberal citizens congregated to defend the artist and freedom of expression.  
•  Protest was
  not the only reaction; conservative groups opted for more radical measures and
  went to court. The rejection of the exposition culminated with legal charges
  pressed by a catholic organization called Asociación
  Cristo Sacerdote. The whole argument was based on the exposition violating
  religious freedom stipulated in the Argentinean Constitution. The judges in
  charge of the case, after evaluating the charges pressed, decided to cancel the
  exposition claiming that most of Argentineans were catholic and thus were being
  deeply offended by Ferrari’s art.
•  When the
  decision was made public, more than 5,000 freedom of expression advocates
  concentrated outside the Cultural Center and painted murals, sang, played
  instruments and together repudiated the court decision of closing the
  exhibition.
•  The court´s
  decision was appealed and after a few weeks the court revoked the order of
  shutting down the exhibition and permission to re open was granted. On the
  first days of 2005 the exhibition was re inaugurated and before two months of it’s
  reopening it had been visited by more than 70,000 people.
•  The Ferarri
  issue is not only a symbol of civil resistance to censorship but it became a
  legal precedent for future liberty of expression cases in Argentina.  It also raised an important debate around the
  role of the Church in public affairs, the complex relationship between art,
  State and private industries and the place Church and art have or should have
  in the Argentinean society. The León Ferrari issue has become a central reference
  on freedom of expression and tolerance of diversity for Argentinean politics
  and citizens.

External sources: