2023-05-07 22:42:12
It had been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo since mid-February. A controversial painting by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn was sprayed with paint by an individual who acted alone on Sunday May 7, announced the museum, which intends to file a complaint.
Title « Fuck abstraction ! », the work represents a person with tied hands, forced into fellatio by a powerful faceless man. For his detractors, the victim is a child, which the artist denies, invoking the representation of rape as a weapon of war and a crime against humanity.
The associations Lawyers for Childhood, Childhood in Sharing, Facing Incest and Innocence in Danger, considering child pornography, demanded its removal but were dismissed in the spring by the Paris Administrative Court and then by the Council of State.
At 3:30 p.m. Sunday, a man “degraded voluntarily” this work “by spraying paint on it” mauve, despite a “mediation and security system”the museum told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming an information from Franceinfo.
The man, a ” Old person “ according to a source familiar with the matter, was “dissatisfied with the sexual staging of a child and an adult represented according to him on this painting”, but he is not part of an activist group. He “was immediately apprehended by the security agents … and taken away by the police”adds the contemporary art center which “will file a complaint for degradation of property and obstruction of freedom of expression”.
The painting will continue to be exposed
Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak recalled that justice had “confirmed that this painting, as put into context, could be presented to the public”in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse after going there. “The Rassemblement National used this painting to stir up controversy and attack the freedom of creation of artists”said the minister who had been questioned on the subject in March by the deputy RN Caroline Parmentier, adding:
“Without this instrumentalization by the RN, we certainly would not have come to this. »
“We regret the extreme consequences of this controversy”declared Guillaume Désanges, President of the Palais de Tokyo, concerned about “to support art (…) with enthusiasm, awareness and responsibility towards all audiences”. “In agreement with the artist, the Palais de Tokyo will continue to present the painting and the exhibition” which attracted 80,000 visitors, “with the traces of degradation until the scheduled end of the season, May 14”the statement said.
Contacted by AFP, the association Jurists for Children indicated that they discovered this degradation. “Children’s lawyers and other associations (have) acted as we always do, by taking legal action, writing to those responsible and informing the public”she said.
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