The London-based interdisciplinary design collective, comprised of Akil Scafe-Smith, Seth Amani Scafe-Smith and Melissa Haniff, have announced that they are halting Them’s the Breaks, their current exhibition at the Barbican Centre’s Curve Gallery, with immediate effect.
The cancellation is in response to what Resolve called ‘an act of anti-Palestinian censorship’ by a member of the Barbican communications team regarding a talk originally scheduled to take place between Nihal El Assar and Radio AlHara on 15 June. The talk had been planned as part of the wider public programme surrounding the exhibition. The Barbican has issued an apology for these events, in which a member of staff asked Elias Anastas, a co-founder of the Palestine-based Radio Alhara, to ‘steer clear of thorny issues’ such as ‘free Palestine… or whatever’. The event was subsequently cancelled due to technical difficulties.
In a statement, the collective also cited as the reason for their withdrawal a number of other ‘hostile encounters’ from the Barbican’s Front of House staff towards themselves, friends, family and other visitors during the exhibition’s lifespan. Them’s the Breaks had been scheduled to run until 16 July. The group will instead cease all upcoming public programme events at the Barbican, with the exception of the Radio AlHara event which has now been rescheduled.
The collective plan to dismantle the exhibition, leaving the gallery bare from 26 June, with the materials distributed to organisations and individuals: ‘We hope that this serves as a physical reminder of both ours and Radio altar’s experiences, holding the institution to account for their promises and making visible the ones the have failed to keep.’
