Oh, to have been a fly on the wall as the luvvies wrestled with what we might loosely call their conscience.

And I do wonder if any of them dared to raise the obvious question, given that the detention centres are themselves reflective of government policy. Will they ask themselves...

"...could I support an event funded by the architects of mandatory detention"?

Will a band of braided and be-sandalled luvvies write to the Biennale Board in a similar vein to that which was prompted by Transfield, do you think...

"...we ask the Board: what will you do? We urge you to act in the interests of asylum seekers. As part of this we request the Biennale reject the offer from the Arts Council, and seek sponsorship elsewhere".

I seem to recall a warning notice that read "For your own safety and comfort, please do not stand between the artists and a bunch of money".

The hand-wringers wringing their hands over the death of the Iranian, or as they revealingly call themselves, Persians, country shopper while ignoring the callous indifference of the Greens [accidents happen] to the 100s of deaths from the corrupt Gillard and Rudd governments is sickening.

Can this revisionist masquerading as an historian go and shout on a street corner for a change?

For someone who sucks at the taxpayer teat, that is a bit rich.

I am just so sick of these children living off the taxpayer, & trying to lecture us, their funder, & boss from their ivory towers.

Binoy,

Why don't you and the other artists use your art to make your statements about problems with Transfield and detention centre victims?

Wow. Turns out I was wrong.

>>I seem to recall a warning notice that read "For your own safety and comfort, please do not stand between the artists and a bunch of money".<<

This time, they have stood upon their dignity, thumbed their noses at their sponsor's money, and shot themselves firmly in the foot.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/arts-kicks-own-goal-in-biennale-of-sydney-stoush-and-risks-vital-clash-20140308-34dzu.html

"In none of the statements by activists did they condemn Transfield's funding of the Australian Chamber Orchestra or the peak arts and disability organisation Accessible Arts. Nor did they condemn the links between Transfield board members who also sit on arts boards across the country providing their services, expertise and support. They include David Gonski, who is chairman of the Sydney Theatre Company, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, who is president of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, and Nicholas James, who is a director for Gondwana Choirs. If the activists really wanted to be consistent, they would have dug down a little deeper and protested these links. It would then be logical to also boycott companies that fund the Liberal-Nationals Coalition, which implements the detention policy. These companies include Santos, Woodside Energy, ANZ, Zip Industries, Macquarie Group, Herbert Smith Freehills and Westfield Group. They are also all active arts sponsors."

It isn't difficult to describe the scene in these companies' boardrooms, when the question "what should our Arts sponsorship budget look like this year?" is next tabled.

Amazing, the damage some petulant, jumped-up luvvie can do. I hope the arts communities affected by this pointless hissy-fit will take some retaliatory action. Meanwhile...

"All bets are off now and any arts manager in Australia looking for the sponsorship dollar should be pretty nervous."

All for the sake of some individuals' need to feel smugly self-righteous. How sad.

Pericles. ' Well said that man!'. The same could be said for the anti Isreali divestment luvvies. Close down companies in the disputed 'west bank' and throw hundreds of Palestinians out of work, include also the luvvies banning genetically modified crops such as 'golden rice', preventing thousands of third world children going blind through vitamin D deficiency. The list is endless. Ship them all to Tasmania I say.