Press release – for immediate release
Dublin, 3 August 2016
The Repeal the 8th mural controversially removed from the wall of the Project Arts Centre last month will be visible again this morning at the Dublin headquarters of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL).
The heart-shaped image, by the artist Maser, was painted over on 25 July 2016 after Dublin City Council raised planning issues with the Arts Centre.
This morning (Wednesday 3 August 2016), two precise replicas of the mural will be unveiled at the rights watchdog’s headquarters in Blackhall Place, Dublin.
ICCL Executive Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“States have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity. As the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights has recently emphasised, the ‘use of public space for art is crucial as it allows people, including marginalized people, to freely access, enjoy and sometimes contribute to the arts, including in its most contemporary forms’. While the Irish Council for Civil Liberties fully respects the planning processes of Dublin City Council, it believes that Maser’s compelling work deserves to reach a wider audience pending its restoration to the wall of the Project Arts Centre.”
The two precise replicas of the original mural will installed inside the main ground floor windows of the ICCL’s headquarters at 9.30am this morning.
ENDS
For further information, and to request pictures, please contact Jason O’Mara (jason.omara@iccl.ie)
Phone: 01 799 4504
Note to editor:
The replica Repeal the 8th murals being unveiled today at the ICCL’s headquarters are “temporary signs” that do not require planning permission.
Maser is an artist originally from Ireland, now living in the USA. In 1995, under the moniker ‘Maser’, he began painting graffiti on the streets of Dublin, where he soon earned the respect of other graffiti artists in Ireland and throughout Europe for his unique abstracted style. After studying Visual Communication at Art School in his home city, he went on to establish himself as one of Ireland’s leading visual artist working in the urban environment. For more, see http://maserart.com/
The original mural was commissioned by the social media enterprise The Hun Real Issues. For more, see: https://thehunrealissues.com/repeal-the-8th/
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is very grateful to Maser and The Hun Real Issues for their kind permission to reproduce this important public artwork.
In her fifth thematic report (document A/HRC/23/34, 14 March 2013), the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, focused on the right to freedom of artistic expression and creation, which includes the right of all persons to freely experience and contribute to artistic expressions and creations, through individual or joint practice, to have access to and enjoy the arts, and to disseminate their expressions and creations.
Her report addresses laws and regulations restricting artistic freedoms as well as economic and financial issues significantly impacting on such freedoms. The underlying motivations are most often political, religious, cultural or moral, or lie in economic interests, or are a combination of those.
The Special Rapporteur studied in detail the international framework on possible limitations to artistic freedom, and also stressed the positive obligations of States in support of the right of people to enjoy the arts and their artistic freedoms. She encouraged States to critically review their legislation and practices imposing restrictions on the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity, taking into consideration their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil this right.
Farida Shaheed’s full report is available to download at this link: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/23/34