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The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY Closed by City for Controversial Art Installation

Wafaa (Troy, NY) An art installation closed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last Thursday (March 5) was shut down by the City of Troy this morning (March 11), a day after it re-opened at The Sanctuary for Independent Media.

Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihadi" piece is the centerpiece of a month-long celebration of art, freedom and democracy at The Sanctuary for Independent Media, which features by Iraqi-born digital media artist Wafaa Bilal, culture jammers The Yes Men, film maker Pam Yates and the Critical Art Ensemble's Professor Steve Kurtz. The City of Troy's order to close The Sanctuary for Independent Media jeopardizes the entire "Art, Freedom, Democracy" series, which focuses on government intimidation and censorship under the guise of counter-terrorism.

The City of Troy cited code violations as the reason for their action, less than 24 hours after an inspection by code enforcement and fire officials cleared the building for use.

More information will be posted at The Sanctuary for Independent Media's website (www.thesanctuaryforindependentmedia.org/) as it becomes available.

Additional Information: From Hudson Mohawk IMC: Wafaa Bilal: Speech in a Democracy | From GamePolitics.com: Troy City Officials Wield Building Code to Shut Down Game Art Exhibit | ACLU May Sue Troy, NY in Game Controversy… | After Booting Controversial Game Art Exhibit, RPI Goes After College Republicans
 

Comments

Description of the game

So what was the point of the game at the art exibit you ask?

The game started as Quest for Saddam a first-person shooter where the goal is to assasinate Saddam Hussein, presumably blowing up lots of Iraqies along the way. Somebody modified this game to create Night of Bush Capturing which modified the graphics used in the game so instead of shooting Iraqies to get to Saddam Hussein, you're shooting Americans to get to George Bush.

Bilal's game modifies the game even more so that now you're a recruiter that tries to convince someone to become a suicide bomber that targets Bush. Along with the game exibit he distributed a booklet that describes the history of a suicide bomber. The history closely resembles Bilal's actual life, where a US bomb killed his brother and shortly after that his father's health deteriorated and he died as well.

Check out the description at gamepolitics.com and the description at the Sactuary.

 

The Sanctuary Responds

STATEMENT FROM STEVE PIERCE, SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SANCTUARY FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA, TROY, NEW YORK, March 14, 2008
Since 2005, The Sanctuary for Independent Media has struggled to be a good citizen and a good neighbor. We’ve invested immense creative energy and toil and spent many thousands of hard-earned dollars to refurbish a historic former church in a neglected neighborhood of north Troy, striving to enrich the community through media arts and education. Our efforts have proved beneficial in that we’ve succeeded in bringing internationally acclaimed filmmakers, graphic artists, musicians, authors, and other important cultural figures to a deprived area and fostered constructive public dialog that informs and enlivens our democratic society.

On March 11, 2008, however -- just as the Sanctuary was launching a month-long scheduled program of artistic exhibits, performances and discussions on censorship and government repression -- the City of Troy abruptly closed the facility on codes violation charges because somebody didn’t like one of our planned art exhibits. This is wrong. We must not allow our public officials to continue to act in such a manner.

The Capital Region New York Civil Liberties Union and attorney Peter Henner are among those who have stepped forward to assist the Sanctuary in protecting our constitutional rights and the rights of our artists and patrons.

We do not dispute the need to respect city laws and ordinances. Prior to this incident, the city knew we were operating in good faith to comply with the building codes and we had made and were continuing to make ample improvements to this 108-year-old structure. There wasn’t any conflict. Our relations with the city’s professional employees had been very positive and everyone recognized we were acting in a responsible manner. We were never warned we might be shut down. In fact, on March 10, the city’s own building and fire inspectors gave us the green light to proceed with holding a major public event that night.

But then the city’s public works commissioner, Bob Mirch, who oversees Troy code enforcement and holds a variety of other local political posts, railed on right-wing talk radio and he also physically led a vocal demonstration outside our facility to protest our showing of an exhibit he did not like. The next day, his department shut down the Sanctuary.

These events have been extremely upsetting and damaging. First, the whole incident has been fueled by wildly irresponsible misrepresentations of Wafaa Bilal and his work, using racial and jingoistic stereotypes that breed fear and misunderstanding. Second, Mr. Mirch has been allowed to abuse his official position to enforce his own political views – to use alleged code violations as a pretext to stifle political dissent. This kind of intimidation is wrong. His behavior has violated the civil rights of Mr. Bilal to express himself through his art, it has violated the civil rights of the Sanctuary to present art, and it has abrogated the civil rights of the public who wanted to view art by denying them that opportunity to make up their own minds.

We urge the City of Troy to put an end to this kind of discriminatory action. We want to resume working in good faith with government officials to make sure that the law is upheld and people’s rights are respected. This is the United States of America.
 

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