STATUE OF PEACE EXHIBIT DISPUTE

[Anchor Lead]

Tens of thousands of people are calling for the reopening of the Statue of Peace exhibit that closed just three days after it had opened at an international art festival in Japan. Petitions have been signed and several artists have elected to withdraw their works from the festival in protest.

[Pkg]

​People stand in a long line, unable to enter the exhibition hall which is blocked by a wall. The girl from the Statue of Peace still sits in the darkened hall beyond that wall. Many people were enraged at the Aichi Triennale's decision to close the exhibition just three days after it opened. Now they are attempting to overturn that decision. Japanese artists and civic activists have been working to also reopen the show, "After Freedom of Expression?" which had been closed down together with the Statue of Peace exhibit. They delivered petitions signed by some 26,000 people to Aichi Prefecture which had organized the art festival. These signatures came from all over the world in just ten days since the show's shutdown.

[Soundbite] IGUCHI(PETITION DRIVE INITIATOR) : "Art is about seeing, knowing and thinking. You have to see it to talk about it. So the show must reopen."

Artists participating in the triennale are even more furious. Some of the artists said that they want their works withdrawn from the show in protest. The artworks include those that were featured in the background of the opening ceremony and the festival poster. Japan's NHK TV reported that two exhibition halls were closed today and six artworks will be installed in a way that shows the artist's objection. Japanese police have arrested the man whose threat had caused the festival organizers to halt the exhibition in the first place, but Aichi Prefecture has not changed its decision. The shutdown of the Statue of Peace exhibit has now become a global issue.