Art collector Poju Zabludowicz has been a board member and financier of the Bicom communications agency until 2019. Zabludowicz’s role in the company is one of the reasons for the artists’ boycott of Kiasma.
According to documents in the British Trade Register, in early 2019 Zabludowicz was still on the board of the pro-Israel lobby Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, or Bicom.
However, the documents show that Zabludowicz continued to support the company financially for the period 1.1.2019-25.6.2020. He served on the company’s board for 18 consecutive years, until 2019.
The artists refuse to work with Kiasma as long as it receives support from an organisation whose board includes representation from the Zabludowicz Art Trust. Zabludowicz sits on Kiasma’s grant-making board as the organisation’s representative.
– Our basis is the support of organizations funded by Chaim ‘Poju’ Zabludowicz for the apartheid policy of the Israeli state towards Palestine and the Palestinians, the artists’ declaration reads.
The artists’ boycott is part of an international, Palestinian-led movement.
The artists participating in the protest think it’s a work stoppage, and they don’t call on the public to boycott Kiasma.
The artists’ campaign’s open letter highlights Zabludowicz’s role in the UK-based communications agency Bicom, which he co-founded and has financed.
According to Bicom, its mission is to \”promote public understanding and education about the Middle East and Israel.\” The company publishes a newsletter, podcast and reports, organizes journalist trips to Israel and arranges interviews for journalists with Israeli politicians, diplomats and academics.
According to commercial register documents, Zabludowicz was no longer a member of Bicom’s board in February 2022, when Bicom published its criticism, in which talking about apartheid in connection with Israel is called smearing.
Zabludowicz’s support for Bicom worth millions of pounds
According to the report of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, Zabludowicz left his position as a member of the company’s board (company director) only on February 25, 2019. He held the position since the company’s founding in 2001.
In the activity report, Zabludowicz is said to have given the organization a lot of service and support. His role during the company’s first decade is especially appreciated.
The company’s financial statements also reveal that Zabludowicz financed Bicom during the period 1 January 2019 to 29 June 2020. In the financial statement covering that time, it is reported that \”donations have been received from five board members (and related entities) totaling 573,123 pounds\”. During that period, the company had a total of five board members, one of whom was Poju Zabludowicz.
Between 2006 and 2009, based on the company’s financial statements, Zabludowicz supported Bicom with a total of 2.9 million pounds. According to the 2010 financial statements, \”the company meets its daily working capital requirements with the support of board member P Zabludowicz. P Zabludowicz offers monthly financial support in the form of donations.\” The support was said to continue for the next 12 months, i.e. until the end of 2011.
The financial statements reveal that Zabludowicz supported the company with donations in the years 2015–2016 as well as its other board members. Since the funding provided by the various board members has not been identified in the financial statements in these years, no support amounts can be deduced from them.
According to information from the British Trade Register, a year after Zabludowicz’s departure, Bicom’s long-term chairman and the third long-term member of the board also left. At the beginning of 2020, the company decided to reduce its costs by at least a third. It reduced its staff in London and Israel from twelve to six and the company moved to a significantly more affordable shared office.
In the financial year 2020–21, Zabludowicz did not support Bicom based on the information in the financial statements.
Kiasma Support Foundation requests new report
Pekka Lehtinen, chairman of Kiasma’s support foundation, says via email that the support foundation received the previously publicly presented information about affiliations directly from Zabludowicz.
Lehtinen says that he asked Zabludowicz for clarification on the matter after Yle told him about the new information.
Poju Zabludowicz did not respond to Yle’s interview requests regarding his role at Bicom.
Zabludowicz sent a short statement last week, which Yle published in its entirety. In it, he said the work stoppage was \”a misinformed personal attack that attempts to question the museum’s ethics.\”
– I personally believe that boycotts harm peace efforts because they place obstacles between open dialogue and people. I believe that a museum should always be a space for dialogue, Zabludowicz said in a statement.
*The story was edited on 11.12. at 10:46: Added a sentence to the story that the artists participating in the protest think it’s a work stoppage, and they don’t call on the public to boycott Kiasma.*