An RN deputy called on the Minister of Culture to remove from the Parisian museum a work by the artist Miriam Cahn, which represents a person with tied hands forced to perform oral sex.
Is Miriam Cahn’s work “Fuck abstraction” child pornography? “It is neither for a minister nor for a parliamentarian to qualify a criminal offence,” defended Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak on Tuesday.
Exhibited since February 17 at the Palais de Tokyo, this work by the Swiss artist represents a person with their hands tied, forced to perform oral sex. For some, like the Juristes pour l’Enfance association, it is a child.
The painting is the subject of an online petition calling for its removal, which has so far garnered some 8,500 signatures.
“These are not children. This painting deals with the way in which sexuality is used as a weapon of war, as a crime against humanity”, according to the artist quoted in a press release from the Parisian museum.
“Art is not consensual”
Questioned by RN deputy Caroline Parmentier, Rima Abdul Malak first called not to “mix” everything. “The fight for child protection and against all forms of violence, we all lead it collectively in government alongside my colleague Charlotte Caubel, every day,” she said.
“You went to do your publicity stunt and film this painting, but did you see the entire exhibition? Did you talk to the mediators? Did you read the explanations? Because we can’t take a work out of its context”, she continued, quoting the words of the artist herself.
“Yes, art can shock, can question, can sometimes arouse unease, even disgust. Art is not consensual. And freedom of expression and creation is guaranteed by law”, he said. she assured.
And to add that it is “neither for a minister, nor for a parliamentarian to qualify a criminal offence. This is the role of justice”.
Reinforced mediation mechanism
In the process, the Observatory of creative freedom published a press release supporting the artist:
“Artists must be able to denounce these crimes in complete freedom. As George Sand said about literature, ‘The writer is only a mirror that reflects, a machine that traces, and who has nothing to do with himself. make forgiveness if its prints are exact, if its reflection is faithful’. The same is true for painting, and this debate which has already spanned two centuries has always concluded with the discredit of the censors”.
On March 7, the Palais de Tokyo said it was “aware” that the artist’s artistic approach can “generate misunderstandings” and announced that it would strengthen its mediation system.