Published: February 27th, 2012 at 6:00 am ET
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Title: U.S. museums cite safety in saying no to Fukushima exhibition
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Author: HIROKO SAITO
Date: February 27, 2012
An exhibition by a U.S. painter [Ben Shahn], who captured the horrors of nuclear power after a Japanese fishing ship was caught in an H-bomb test, will be scaled back at a Fukushima museum after U.S. museums declined to lend works for it, some citing radiation concerns. [...]Harvard University’s Fogg Museum, which was to lend 52 of the 69 works from U.S. museums, said it gave top priority to the safety of staff and artworks.
An official told The Asahi Shimbun that the museum took into consideration the serious situation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the U.S. State Department’s recommendation for refraining from traveling within a 50-mile (80-kiometer) radius of the crippled plant. [...]
The Fogg Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art said they will exclude Fukushima from the recipient museums.
Officials cited radiation concerns, according to the Fukushima museum. [...]
The Iwaki City Art Museum canceled three exhibitions scheduled for April through October last year after museums in Czech Republic, France and the United States refused to lend their works
Read the report here
Published: February 27th, 2012 at 6:00 am ET
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sending...
Forget Harvard.
Japan can hold an art competition for nuclear related subjects and the winner gets to escape the islands.
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This really underlines the truth. Virtual cold shutdown, everything is fine now doesn't fool the big scientific intitution, Harvard U.
I hope the people of Fuku see this and realize they have a treasure at home (children) that is worth much more than a piece of canvas. The people of Fuku should self-evacuate and make the Gov provide shelter in a safer place.Mass exodus.
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If it were possible, perhaps land that is now considered uninhabitable can be used.
Instead of going to Mars, we could terraform our own bit of Mars right here on earth. Maybe even build underground facilities if things get really bad, which looks more and more likely each day.
Calling Houston, we seem to have a lack of foresight here.
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@Alice: what you say in jest is closer to the hard truth than you suspect. Our problem is, we're still simmering in puerile religious hatred. We'll waste billions-and-billions-and-billions on militarization programs to keep control over those who oppose the will of the elite. We should get moving as fast as we can to build sustainable environments in space for up-coming generations. But as we always like to do, we'll defer such direction to those in power; who'll then have the means to choose who get left behind…
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So Harvard cares more about art than the human population. I guess they didn't take the words of esteemed the esteemed Harvard physicist who dismissed Japan's radiation threat to public health. I mean, if a lithe radiation won't hurt humans, then why would it hurt the art?
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/2011/03/14/fukushima-nuclear-disaster-looking-objectivity
This reigns me of the Louvre story. People care ore about art than people.
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Hi Kelly,
To be fair, I think it might have something to do with having to send staff along with the artwork. I get the feeling they might be just a tad reluctant to go and for that, I really can't blame them.
That physicist? Must be living in the clouds.
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@Kelly Ann Thomas: considering that the theme of the artist is anti-nuke, I'd say they have every right to protect all concerned parties, including the artwork…
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I don't believe people or art should be sent there. My problem is with Harvard – they have been relatively silent regarding Fukushima and the little that comes from such an "elite" university is definitely not anti-nuclear. They are worried about the safety of the art and their employees, but no mention of the radiation blanketing the Northern Hemisphere. If you Google Harvard Fukushima, the search results indicate that almost no one in the university has a clue as to what is happening at Fukushima and no one gives a damn, either. What did come up in the search results was that Tyra Banks just got her MBA from Harvard and the Harvard Crimson editorial board defended Goldman Sachs against the OWS protestors. Oh, and a paper on preventing the next Fukushima with the asinine belief that "Weak authority and largely voluntary standards limit global institutions' impact on nuclear safety and security", Hey you stupid PhDs – do you know how many of theses reactors sit on active fault lines? Your pathetic little paper means nothing. The only way to prevent another Fukushima is to shut down every nuclear reactor in the world. Eventually, every single reactor will have to be dealt with – and you are asking hundreds of future generations to shoulder the cost and burden of caring for defunct nuclear facilities from the 20th and 21st centuries.
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/21306/preventing_the_next_fukushima.html
I am glad that I turned down my acceptance in the doctoral program at the Kennedy School. It would be embarrassing to be affiliated with such a clueless group of poseurs.
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Hey Harvard and Japan……
If it ain't safe for the paintings, it ain't safe for the people, so how about shoutin it from the rooftops instead of ignoring the problem?
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You know PoorDaddy,….sometimes I wonder,…like about our xdrfox offering a place for a small Japanese family, ALL these months,….and nothing. I know of one or two others who have mentioned the same thing. It warms my heart. But, why no takers do you suppose?
Is it possible that the average Japanese would rather die, than live in America with US? Or, can they not handle CHANGE?
I guess I should pose that question to myself,…or you PoorDaddy. Why are we not moving off of the west coast? Do you know? 'Cause I don't!?!
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Heres some art for the Fukushemians still left walking aimlessly about the halls of thier covention centers buy our very own nuk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzYbFAgxpYY&feature=player_embedded#!
Its whats important. Prioritizing.
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I would trust Harvard as they would never do anything that does not directly benefit or protect their varied interests.
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Salute to Harvard…
What a great way to make a statement without getting their large Donors mad!
Why enable the Japanese,
… So they can say "everything is OK in Fukushima, come and view nuclear Art"?
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+ 1
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