Artistic Expression
The Issue
Artistic expression is currently being endangered by the fragmentation of society into increasingly inward-focused social groupings that reject alternative perspectives and questions to their taken-for-granted reality.
Why It Matters
Artistic expression has been a principal way in which the most important aspects of our common humanity have come to be understood and communicated.
Our Work
The Centre for Free Expression engages the public in dialogue about the importance of artistic expression and supports artists when there are attempts to restrict or suppress their work. The Centre is particularly interested in how social media contributes to the fragmentation of society and the chilling of artistic expression.
Resources
CFE Film Series: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Director: Alison Klayman
BPC Bulletin: Quebec Police Confiscate Horror Novel; Author and Publisher Face Porn Charges
March, 25, 2019 - On March 14, 2019, police in Quebec raided the home of author Yvan Godbout and the office of publisher Nycolas Doucet. The police confiscated copies of Mr. Godbout’s horror novel Hansel et Gretel.
BPC Bulletin: Freedom of Speech in the Arts: Voices from the Left
On February 18, 2019, just before Freedom to Read Week, a panel of self-described left-wing artists, academics and activists participated in a panel discussion at the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
CFE Film Series: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Director: Alanis Obomsawin
BPC Bulletin: 30th Anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's Fatwa
February 14, 2019 - This year, February 14 is the 30th anniversary of the day when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran ordered the death of author Salman Rushdie and his publishing associates for producing The Satanic Verses.