A controversial painting by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn, exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo since mid-February, was sprayed with paint by an individual who acted alone Sunday, announced the museum which intends to file a complaint and has received the support of the Minister of Culture.
Entitled "Fuck abstraction!", the work represents a person with tied hands, forced to perform oral sex by a powerful man without a face. For his detractors, the victim is a child, which the artist denies, invoking the representation of rape as a weapon of war and crime against humanity.
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The associations Juristes pour l'enfance, l'Enfance en partage, Face à l'inceste and Innocence en danger, considering the child pornography table, demanded its removal but were rejected in the spring by the administrative court of Paris and then by the Council of State.
The museum will file a complaint
At 15:30 p.m. Sunday, a man "voluntarily degraded" this work "by projecting paint" purple, despite a "mediation and security device," said the museum, confirming information from franceinfo.
The man, an "elderly person" according to a source close to the case, 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 an activist group.
The presentation of Miriam Cahn's work at the Palais de Tokyo has been denounced by several child protection associations. LP / Philippe Lavieille
He "was immediately apprehended by security agents (...) and taken away by the police", adds the contemporary art center which "will file a complaint for damage to property and obstruction of freedom of expression".
"Instrumentalization"
Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak recalled after visiting the site that the court had "confirmed that this painting, as put in context, could be presented to the public". "The National Rally has instrumentalized this painting to stir up controversy and attack the creative freedom of artists," said the minister who had been questioned on the subject in March by RN deputy Caroline Parmentier. "Without this instrumentalization by the RN, we would certainly not have reached this point," she said.
"We regret the extreme consequences of this controversy," said Guillaume Désanges, president of the Palais de Tokyo, anxious to "support art (...) with enthusiasm, conscience 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 traces of the degradation until the scheduled end of the season, on May 14," the statement said.