Opposition to a work by Miriam Cahn took another step on Sunday. A controversial painting by the Swiss artist, exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo since mid-February, was sprayed with paint by an individual who acted alone on Sunday, announced the museum, which intends to file a complaint and received the support of the minister of the culture.
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.
The suspect “immediately apprehended”
At 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, a man “degraded voluntarily” this work “by projecting purple paint” on it, despite a “mediation and security device”, said the museum, confirming information from France Info.
The man, an “elderly person” according to a source familiar with the matter, was “unhappy with the sexual staging of a child and an adult represented according to him on this painting” but he is not part of a activist group. He “was immediately apprehended by security agents (…) and taken away by the police”, added the contemporary art center which “will file a complaint for degradation of property and obstruction of freedom of expression”.
Rima Abdul Malak criticizes the attitude of the RN
After going there, Rima Abdul Malak for her part recalled that justice had “confirmed that this painting, as put in context, could be presented to the public”. “The National Rally has used this painting to stir up controversy and attack the freedom of creation of artists,” said the Minister of Culture who had been questioned on the subject in March by RN deputy Caroline Parmentier. “Without this instrumentalization by the RN, we certainly would not have come to this,” she said.
“We regret the extreme consequences of this controversy”, for his part declared Guillaume Désanges, president of the Palais de Tokyo, anxious 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 Juristes pour l’Enfance association indicated that they had discovered this degradation. “Children’s lawyers and other associations (have) acted as we always do, by taking legal action, writing to officials and informing the public,” she said.