Good Boy, the offending collage by Michael Dickinson shows the face of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Michael Dickinson is a British artist and the founder of the Istanbul Stuckists. He has lived in Turkey for fifteen years. In June 2006 he displayed a collage Best in Show, showing the face of Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, on a dog’s body being given a rosette by President Bush. This was seized by the police, and he was told he would be prosecuted. In September 2006, he arrived at court and was informed he would not be prosecuted for lack of evidence. Outside the court he held up a similar collage, Good Boy, and was arrested, being detained for 10 days. He was again informed he would be prosecuted. In October 2007 he arrived at court, and the case was adjourned so that the opinion of professors could be ascertained as to the worth of the collages.

Jail threat: the story to date

Current situation:
Michael Dickinson appeared in court (again) in Istanbul on 24 March 2008, for displaying this collage. The professors of art from Marmara university invited by the judge to come and give their evaluation as to whether it was art or insult didn’t show up, so the trial has been adjourned (again) to 25 October 2008 .

Sign the protest petition on mungbeing.com.

More on Michael Dickinson here. See also wikipedia.

Best in Show with face of Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister, on dog’s body, being given a rosette by President Bush.