26-letni artysta, były student ASP w Poznaniu, Włodzimierz Umaniec został skazany w Wielkiej Brytanii na dwa lata więzienia. Uważamy, że wyrok jest zbyt surowy. Należy wziąć pod uwagę społeczne i artystyczne uwarunkowania i znaczenia czynu pana Umańca, który jest imigrantem, żyjacym w prekariacie w Anglii. Włodzimierz Umaniec to współżałożyciel nurtu w kulturze wizualnej yellowism, a gest w galerii Tate miał być częścią tego projektu. Obraz Rothko, na którym pan Umaniec podpisał się, miał być przeznaczony do dekoracji lokalu gastronomicznego na Manhattanie. Ostatnio dzieła Rothko osiągają astronomiczne ceny na aukcjach; czy dlatego życie ludzkie ma być łamane w więzieniu? Czy zbyt surowy wyrok to zemsta hiperkapitalistycznego systemu na artyście? Niedawno Trenton Oldfield został skazany na sześć miesięcy więzienia za pokojowy protest przeciw elitaryzmowi: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/19/boat-race-protest-class-war Czy pozwolimy na niesprawiedliwe wyroki?
Oto treść listu historyków sztuki i pracownic uniwersytetów brytyjskich, w tym członków Partii Zielonych 2004:
We are shocked by the severity of the court sentence against Mr Wlodzimierz Umaniec: condemning him to two years in jail is far too harsh.
It seems that the social and artistic determinants and meanings of his act have not been taken into account.Mr Umaniec, 26, is an artist who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Poland. As an immigrant to Britain living in a precarious situation, he co-founded a movement in visual culture which he calls 'yellowism'; the unfortunate gesture at Tate Modern was meant to be a part of his artistic activity.
The ruling in this case should be reconsidered, in that all aspects of his intervention must be examined by art-historical and social experts. We deplore this ruining of a young human life in response to an act of iconoclasm. The subjectivity of the young artist, a first-time offender should not be condemned all too promptly and cruelly. Mr Umaniec was arrested in October; the commentaries against him have been filled with hatred; now he has been condemned to a long jail term -- let's think again about the condition to which we are consigning him.
The sentence against Mr Umaniec reminds us of the two-year imprisonment of Pussy Riot in Russia.
Thank you for your continuing reporting on the case in the Independent, including the articles by Emma Bamford and Matilda Battersby and the text of 13 December; in your poll 'Is two years in prison the right punishment for man who defaced Rothko painting' the majority (over 60 %) of your readers says that the sentence is too severe http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fvoices%2Fiv-drip%2Fpoll-is-two-years-in-prison-the-right-punishment-for-man-who-defaced-rothko-painting-8412883.html%3Forigin%3DinternalSearch&h=gAQFHna1m&s=1
Dr Lara Perry, principal lecturer, University of Brighton, author of History's Beauties: Women and the National Portrait Gallery, 1856-1900
Dr Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, associate lecturer, Department of History of Art and Screen Media, Birkbeck College, University of London
Dr Tomasz Kitlinski, research fellow, University of Brighton, Poland's Green Party member
Dr Pawel Leszkowicz, Marie Curie fellow, University of Sussex, curator of the exhibition Ars Homo Erotica at Warsaw's National Museum, Poland's Green Party member
Lisa Redlinski, information services manager, University of Brighton
