A museum in Australia can bar men from the 'Ladies Lounge' exhibition, a regional top court says
An appeals court says a museum in Australia was within its rights to bar men from a controversial art exhibit for women meant to underscore their exclusion from segments of the male-dominated society
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A museum in Australia was within its rights to bar men from a controversial art exhibit for women meant to underscore their exclusion from segments of the male-dominated society, a top regional court said on Friday.
The development is the latest in the long-running saga of the “Ladies Lounge” exhibition that has provoked an uproar in the art world. Its curator, Kirsha Kaechele, admitted in June she had created all the art, including the paintings she had billed for years as works by Spanish master Pablo Picasso without anyone noticing they were fake.
On Friday, Tasmania’s Supreme Court threw out on appeal an order for Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art, where the exhibit opened in 2020, to stop refusing male patrons entry to the show. It said the lower tribunal should have found that the “Ladies Lounge” was exempt from Australia's gender discrimination law.
The appeals court asked Tasmania’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal to reconsider its ruling from April in the case brought by a disgruntled male visitor. It wasn't immediately clear when the case would be revisited.
