Anger grows as Barbican ignores calls to withdraw human zoo

By The Ligali Organisation | Wed 20 August 2014

A petition organised by Sister Sar’z Myers calling for the public to #boycotthumanzoo has been launched following the decision of the Barbican to support and profit from “Edinburgh’s most controversial Show Exhibit B- The Human Show”.


In an article published by the Guardian newspaper curator Brett Bailey defends his racist work claiming “What interests me about human zoos, is the way people were objectified. Once you objectify people, you can do the most terrible things to them. But what we are doing here is nothing like these shows… I’m interested in the way these zoos legitimised colonial policies.”

Racist: Brett Baileys ’art’ dehumanises African people


Dehumanising Agenda

Rejecting any claims of moral legitimacy Ligali founder Toyin Agbetu wrote “Any racist exhibition that was offensive to African people in the past retains its potency to cause offence today. Why is it so hard for many to grasp this? Most would accept that it is inappropriate to broadcast a sitcom making light of life in holocaust prison camps. So why do they fail to recognise how vile it is to hold an exhibition that dehumanises African people for money and entertainment?”

Toni Racklin, head of Theatre at the Barbican responded;

"Previous performances of Exhibit B, such as in Amsterdam, Brussels and most recently Edinburgh, have attracted a diverse and politically engaged audience and it has been seen as a watershed work that provokes discussion about racism and the historical roots of prejudices. The reception from both audiences and critics has been overwhelmingly positive..."

Reinforcing White Supremacy: During Exhibit B a dehumanised gaze is returned


External Links
Petition - Withdraw the racist Exhibit B - The Human Zoo
Guardian - Edinburgh’s most controversial show: Exhibit B, a human zoo
Barbican - Human Zoo
Twitter - Boycott Human Zoo


Ligali is not responsible for the content of third party sites



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Does this human zoo exhibition expose or reassert white supremacy and the racist ideology of African people being subhuman?
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Any racist exhibition that was offensive to African people in the past retains its potency to cause offence today. Why is it so hard for many to grasp this?

Toyin Agbetu, The Ligali Organisation

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