The non-profit organisation African Empowerment Center (AEC) has organised a demonstration today against the controversial pictures by the Swedish artist Dan Park.
The demonstration will take place today from 16:00-18:00 at Rosendalsgade 15 in Østerbro to protest against the freedom-of-press organisation, Trykkefirhedsselskabet, which has decided to exhibit the pictures.
”Free speech is great, but not everything that is said needs to be repeated or amplified,” Solomon E Lyttle, the British owner of Black Pop Contemporary Art Gallery on Gyldenløvesgade in Copenhagen, told the Copenhagen Post.
”If Park had a drop of talent, there would be no need to use the suffering of others to politicise and further his own agenda. And that's exactly what it is: an agenda. Park needs to resort to sensationalism in order to get attention.”
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Free expression?
The Dan Park pictures, which were initially banned in Sweden after being deemed racist and de-humanising, were first scheduled to by exhibited at the Hornsleth & Friends Gallery, but it pulled out after being vandalised and receiving threats.
Now Trykkefirhedsselskabet has stepped in and announced that it will exhibit the pictures in a basement at Rosendalsgade 15 for a total of 20 hours from Monday through to Friday this week, stating that it was important ”not to give in to vandalism and threats”.
Speaking out against the exhibition: Solomon E Lyttle
But Lyttle, who is also an ambassador for the expat networking organisation InterNations Copenhagen, argues that this has nothing to do with freedom of speech.
”He [Park] has tricked those who lack intelligence and morals into believing this is about 'free speech'. This is about greed and a desperate need for attention, both on the part of Park and anyone else who wants to show this garbage.”
