Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SEX

Artist’s fury as Versailles ‘vagina’ vandalised

UPDATED: The British-Indian artist behind the controversial "Queen's Vagina" sculpture at Versailles has blasted an "intolerance towards art in France", after the installation was vandalised.

Published: 18 June 2015 09:45 CEST
Artist's fury as Versailles 'vagina' vandalised
The "Queen's Vagina" at Versailles, which has been vandalised. Photo: Fabrice Seixas/Kapoor Studio

Vandals have sprayed paint on a controversial sculpture in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles that has become known as the “queen's vagina,” the estate's management said on Wednesday.

“Damage to the work 'Dirty Corner' was discovered Wednesday morning. It was lightly sprayed with paint. The work is being cleaned,” management said.

The 60-metre (200-foot) long, 10-metre (33-foot) high steel-and-rock abstract sculpture, by British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, resembling a funnel in the form of an orifice, is set up in the garden aimed directly at the royal chateau, which attracts five million tourists a year.

The artist expressed his dismay on Thursday and lamented an “intolerance” towards art in France.

“What a tragedy. How sad,” Kapoor told Le Figaro newspaper. 

“You have to put this in perspective. If this act of vandalism says something, it's that there is a certain intolerance in France towards any kind of art.”

He added that the it was more of a “political problem than anything else”, carried out by what he said appeared to be a small but vocal minority. 

“I hope it's just a small group of people whose voice is drowned out by the others. It's a very sad phenomenon,” he added.

Inside the palace itself is a smaller work — a cannon that fired red wax at white walls, symbolising a phallus and an ejaculation of blood.

Some French media outlets have expressed unease at the level of provocation unleashed by British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor who has described the piece as “the vagina of a queen who is taking power”.

No one has claimed responsibility for vandalising the sculpture.

French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said the vandalism was “an attack on the freedom to create” and stressed “all my support to the artist.”

SEE ALSO: When art and sex collide in France to cause a stir

 
Kapoor, who hasn't said which queen he had in mind when he created the piece, has admitted that the work was “ambitious” but said it was not so over-the-top as the scale of the opulent Versailles.
   
He later seemed to stepped away from his description of the work as “the queen's vagina”, but said he did not see why it was problematic.
   
“The point is to create a dialogue between these great gardens and the sculptures,” he told reporters on June 5.
  
In a statement, local officials from the ruling Socialist Party expressed their “indignation” over the incident, which they branded an attack against freedom of expression.
   
It is “unacceptable that art, the compass of freedom, suffer because of the obscurantism of some people”, they added.
   
Kapoor's exhibition is one of the most controversial at Versailles since the authorities in 2008 opened the palace and its grounds to contemporary artists.
   
In 2008, Versailles hosted works by the American artist Jeff Koons, and in 2010 by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
   
In October 2014, vandals in Paris's landmark Vendome square deflated a massive sculpture by US artist Paul McCarthy that was shaped like a sex toy.
   
McCarthy then decided to take down the work, which had both outraged and tickled Parisians.
 
France has a long and colourful history when it comes to art and sex colliding head on ( see link below). In October last year, US artist Paul McCarthy faced criticism (and vandalism) after unveiling what appeared to be a giant butt plug in central Paris.
 
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

SHOW COMMENTS