A performance art project designed to give "a deeper
understanding of discrimination" is accused of being an offensive
blackface performance and removed from the Malmö Festival.
A Danish performance art project meant to combat discrimination and celebrate diversity has been deemed racist in Sweden.
The Copenhagen-based theatre company Global Stories’ project Through
Different Eyes has been removed from the Malmö Festival after more than
200 Swedes signed a petition accusing the project of racism.
Through Different Eyes invites the public to have their appearance
altered by make-up artists so that they can temporarily assume a
different ethnicity or gender. Participants are then invited to walk
around in a crowded public space to experience the feedback they receive
when in someone else’s skin.
“This is a
project that celebrates diversity. We work with make-up artists and
provide all kinds of transformations: from white to brown, brown to
white, man to woman and woman to man. We are also looking in to
transforming from young to old to address the age discrimination,”
Through Different Eyes project leader Morten Nielsen told The Local.
The project was supposed to have been part of the currently-running
Malmö Festival, but festival organisers on Sunday pulled the plug after
the Swedes’ negative feedback and accusations that the project resembled
offensive blackface performances.
“We
apologise if people feel aggrieved and we have taken the criticism
seriously. This part of the programme took an unexpected turn and we
have decided to cancel it,” organiser Pella Ström wrote on the
festival’s website.
A Global Stories spokesperson said the festival only used photos of white people having their skin darkened, when the project also allows for temporary transformations of all sorts. Photo: Anna Andrea Malzer,Global Stories
Ström told Berlingske that the
cancellation of the project was a sign that Sweden “has advanced much
further in the debate on integration and equality than Denmark”.
Danish historian and author Mikael Javling however had a much
different take on the decision to cancel Through Different Eyes.
Javling, who has previously spoken with The Local about Swedes’ “downward spiral of silence” on issues of immigration and integration, called the cancellation “nearly comical”.
“We could laugh at it as we normally do when we talk abut Sweden,
because their ideological discussions seem almost comical, but this is
really serious. Sweden is a country where politicians, the media, the
cultural elite – everyone, really – that has something to say [about
integration issues, ed] is under severe pressure due to immigration and
current issues,” he told Berlingske.
Nielsen, however, said he didn't want to "turn this into another Swedish and Danish fight".
"This is a very complex debate and I hope we don't lose the complexity
when discussing Swedes' and Danes' differences. I can understand how
minorities in Malmö might have seen this as a blackface project, but it
is everything else but that. It is very hard to be accused of doing
something that is the exact opposite of its intention," he told The
Local.
Global Stories put on the Through
Different Eyes project at the Malmö Festival last year without incident.
Nielsen said that the festival "made a serious mistake" this year by
only featuring a photo of man who had his skin darkened and claims the
festival only added a second photo after the controversy had gotten out of control.
NOTE:
The Local.de replaced the original image that ran with this story at the
request of Global Stories, who said that they no longer allow children
under the age of 14 to participate in their project.
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