Michelangelo’s David ‘star’ at the Dubai Expo, but with hidden nudity. There is controversy over the choice to show the iconic life-size reproduction of the masterpiece in such a way as not to show the private parts of the statue. “Italy obscures Michelangelo’s David in Dubai in deference to Islamic tradition: an unprecedented, unacceptable, intolerable humiliation” Vittorio Sgarbi told time.news. “The humiliated Italian state and the mortified Italian art. A real disgust”. “We are faced with the humiliation of Italian art. The proof of Italy’s failure at the Expo, after Di Maio went a few months ago to say that it was a masterpiece “, sinks the art critic. less, or else it is like when Renzi made discover the sculptures for the arrival of Rouhani from Iran, while Rouhani is a very refined person and knows how to distinguish between art and pornography. It’s ridiculous”.
“It is a biblical theme: it is a biblical theme, it is not a pagan theme. Therefore, ‘erasing’ a part of Michelangelo’s David at the Italian Pavilion of the Dubai Expo is really bowing one’s head to religion and their culture” . “Grotesque and ridiculous – adds Sgarbi – This is a real theme on which to comment. Certainly not that of the Spigolatrice di Sapri, who is a woman and is part of Italian sculpture, in which there are nudes, there is Canova, there is it is Botticelli, and there is nothing to say “.
PAVILION DIRECTOR
“We respect every possible interpretation which as such is personal but the conceptual approach of the heart of the Pavilion is exactly the opposite”. This was stated in a note by the artistic director of the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai, Davide Rampello, regarding the controversy aroused by the setting up of Michelangelo’s David at the Expo. “The David, an icon of beauty and perfection, is placed at the center of the area called the Theater of Memory. In today’s culture, we confuse the concept of memory with the archive. But memory has much more, the emotional factor: the David , in that position, he immediately offers his gaze to visitors, becoming the testimonial of memory “. It is therefore, according to Rampello, “an unprecedented, introspective and exciting perspective. The statue rests within the area dedicated to representative visits from which it is however visible in its entirety from below. This was the conceptual approach, the rest are interpretations that are valid as such “.
HOLLBERG
“I will not enter into the merits of the controversy and I wish the Italian Pavilion the deserved success” Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Florentine museum that houses Michelangelo’s iconic masterpiece, told time.news about the original full-height copy presented at the Dubai Expo and whose private parts would be hidden to avoid embarrassment. “The original David remains unique and can be admired in its full beauty and perfection exclusively in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence”.
BEAUTIFUL OLIVE
“The David is a work of art and should not be censored” underlines, speaking with time.news, the art critic Achille Bonito. “It is an image of Italy. In Dubai they used a trick, a form of prudence to meet the sensitivity of a continent that has other religious principles”. And added Achille Bonito Oliva, celebrated in recent days by an exhibition at the Castello di Rivoli, ‘Abo Theatron – Art or Life’: “the Expo welcomes a very large audience that does not always have self-defense. The David is inserted inside a structure. In this way the organizers have protected it from the gaze of the public, especially the Arab one “.
Mariotto
“The censorship of Michelangelo’s David in Dubai seems to me a hypocritical but understandable choice”, declares to time.news the designer Guillermo Mariotto, who dresses many ladies of Dubai. “In my opinion it is a form of respect for morality, for stainless precepts. Nudity in the Arab world is a taboo, a mix between culture and religion”.