No one has forgotten it, and that is despite us.
The taste remains bitter when we think of Zinédine Zidane's header, given to the Italian Marco Materazzi, in 2006, when France played the final of the FIFA World Cup in Berlin.
Believing, perhaps, to demystify this painful moment, the Kabyle visual artist Adel Abdessemed has decided to immortalize the hated gesture through a colossal sculpture.
The statue is now the flagship work of the Pinault exhibition, which is due to open in Rennes on June 12.
Slight problem: it was damaged during transport.
Read also: The Paris Stock Exchange is preparing to welcome the Pinault collection
The 5.4-meter-high bronze, called
Coup de tête
, was found deteriorated on Tuesday, May 4, when it arrived at the Jacobins convent, where the exhibition is to be held. As reported by
Le Télégramme
, while they were unpacking it, the employees of the transport company noticed cracks in the Zidane's feet.
"
Jean-Jacques Aillagon
, the curator of the exhibition, made the trip to Rennes, at this very moment, to see the damage
," explained Wednesday a communications officer from the Pinault foundation to the regional newspaper.
He will decide what action to take. "
There are many questions about its repair.
Will the bronze have to be moved or can it be arranged on site?
Will it be visible on June 12 or will it escape the public once again (see below)?
Read also: Adel Abdessemed, powerful and true artist
The work seems cursed. Installed for the first time on the forecourt of the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris in 2012, it had been harshly denounced by club presidents. The footballer himself had been extremely vehement, denouncing an abuse of his image and a violation of his rights. Others saw it as an apology for violence. Subsequently, the bronze was repurchased by the Qatar Museums Authority and placed on the Doha Corniche, as part of the preparations for the 2022 World Cup. Hell, damnation and cries of scolding! The statue is compared to an idolatry prohibited by Islam. At the end of a relentless campaign and threats of fatwa on the artist, it is finally unbolted from its base, before François Pinault acquires it in 2014 in order toset up in front of his property in Dinard.
To read also: Jean-Jacques Aillagon: "French museums aim to preserve their African works of art"
A total of 136 works from the Pinault collection will be exhibited from Saturday June 12 to Sunday August 29 in Rennes.
Called
Beyond Color, Black and White in the Pinault collection,
the event will feature Man Rey, Jeff Koons and Soulanges.
106 other works, created by 56 different artists, will take center stage, of which around sixty will be visible for the first time.