Paris opposed the sculpture “copulating” buildings. Museum accused of censorship
From 19 to 22 October in Paris, the Tuileries gardens will host a contemporary art fair Fiac. Among the exhibits was supposed to be a sculpture Domestikator, in 2015, created by design collective from the Netherlands Atelier Van Lieshout.
The sculpture represents two interconnected buildings reminiscent of copulating figures.
Sneakpreview #Ruhrtriennale #Domestikator, part of TGTBTU, the largest ever installation by AVL… pic.twitter.com/qkBHCbkrud
— Atelier Van Lieshout (@AtelierLieshout) August 11, 2015
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The management of the Louvre, which is near the garden, filed a complaint to ban the show of the installation because of its “overtly sexual” content. In addition, Domestikator going to install near the Playground, which is another argument against the public display of that art object.
As stressed by the Director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez, visitors can “not understand” the installation. In response, the founder of Atelier Van Lieshout Coup Wang Lishaut announced that clarification of the meaning of the exhibit is the responsibility of the Museum. In addition, van Lishaut called the sculpture “innocent enough”: “there are no genitalia,” said the artist.
British gallery Carpenters Workshop, which is representative of Atelier Van Lieshout, said the decision of the French Museum “harmful”, accusing the Louvre in censorship. According to the representative of the gallery, Domestikator “symbolizes the power of humanity around the world and its hypocritical approach to nature.”
Domestikator previously exhibited at the Ruhr Triennale in Bochum, German. Then the problems of the design team arose.