The first year of the Salon des Réfusés International jury has shortlisted 9 works, for a tie first prize.
A 160 years after the first Salon des Refusés in Paris in 1863, art censorship pervades, not only in repressive regimes, but also across liberal democracies, from cancel culture, to commercial branding.
This first year of the Salon des Réfusés International in 2022 drew a common thread of arrogance, invoking the same issues of morality, sensitivities, attacks on communities, social harmony, disruption, dissent and subversion. Notwithstanding the respective forms of silencing, and their incomparable repercussions, a worldwide scope can help both contextualise and singularise situations of diverse significance, artistic impact, and ethical conundrums.
Everybody's been talking about the democratisation of contemporary art. However, while the dissemination of works has never seemed so easy, a surge of censorship can be detected through both liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes. No longer limited to aesthetic or moral criteria, the principles invoked are now overtly political, and often brandished by pressure groups whose impact has been multiplied by social networks. A sign of the times?
Initiated by artist Arnaud Cohen, the Refusés Prize won't resign to fatalism and the silencing of artists as whistleblowers. It is against the unrelenting, ruthless muzzling of artists that an international jury of contemporary art professionals (artist, critics, curators, academics etc) shortlisted a selection of works which have been exhibited and then censored, and awarded the Refusés Grand Prize.
The selected works will be exhibited at Babel Mallorca, Arnaud Cohen's Balearic curatorial residence.
