Your views: Bill Henson controversy
ANN-MAREE O’CONNOR: Too right the artificial hysteria about Bill Henson reflects badly on Adelaide (InDaily, September 19, 2013). But this regrettable event (Bill Henson’s voluntary withdrawal from the 2014 Adelaide Biennial) belongs in a rich tradition of certain good burghers of Adelaide who know what is good for us, and what kind of art we should be exposed to.
Consumers of the arts in Adelaide will recall Meryl Tankard, Peter Sellars, and (perhaps associated with the latter’s departure) will consider the reasons why the great Dawn Upshaw does not perform here.
It would be wonderful if we had a State Government that could keep a cool head and find the strength to back its Gallery Director and Chairman against the hysterical – and in this case baseless – objections of a couple of agitators. Especially in a state that once proclaimed its connection to the arts by producing car registration plates labelled ‘The Festival State’. I’m glad I don’t have one: people would laugh when I drive interstate.
KIM BLACK: I struggle to fathom that Adelaide is so far behind the times. While the world is getting smaller in the name of globalisation Australia and Adelaide in particular seems to be getting further away.
Another decade or two and I think we can start charging tourist for entering the world’s largest museum when they arrive here. ‘A’ for Australia and Adelaide and ‘A’ for the world’s largest anachronism.
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