Days after penning a letter demanding the deinstallation of a “blasphemous” exhibition on the Nationwide Gallery–Alexandros Soutsos Museum in Athens, Greece, far-right Parliament Member Nikolaos Papadopoulos vandalized a number of of the artworks on the museum late Monday morning, March 10.
Papadopoulos was quickly detained and questioned after attacked 4 works from Greek artist Christophoros Katsadiotis’s within the group exhibition The Attract of the Weird, a present taking inspiration from Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos (1797–98) etchings to current oddities, hybridizations, and the grotesque thematic to Greek artwork.
“We unequivocally condemn all acts of vandalism and violence, and any attempts at censorship that threaten the freedom of artistic expression enshrined in the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic,” the Nationwide Gallery’s board of administrators stated in a public assertion.
Christophoros Katsadiotis, “Saint Christopher” (2020)
The museum outlined that Papadopoulous, aided by one other particular person, accessed the mezzanine-level exhibition at round 11:35am on Monday and took down Katsadiotis’s mixed-media etchings that includes depictions of Saint Christopher, Saint George, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ. The politican maintains that two of the works slipped from his arms after he eliminated them from the partitions, ensuing of their shattered protecting glass.
Papadopoulous didn’t instantly reply to Hyperallergic‘s inquiry.
“The National Gallery, as a public institution, does not have the right to allow exhibits that promote blasphemy, disrespect and the de-Christianization of our society,” Papadopoulos, a member of the far-right Niki Party, wrote in his March 6 letter to the institution’s director. He threatened authorized repercussions if the present wasn’t eliminated, claiming that it was produced on the expense of “the Greek Orthodox taxpayer.”
After he was launched from questioning on the Nationwide Gallery, Papadopoulos took to X to allege that he was illegally detained onsite, citing Article 62 of the Greek Structure which specifies that “the Members of Parliament shall not be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned or otherwise confined without prior leave granted by Parliament.”
Christophoros Katsadiotis, “Icon 17” (2021)
After the assaults on his works, Katsadiotis underscored in a press release to Hyperallergic that any artist “has the right to express his or her personal point of view, to react and, in so doing, ask the questions they want to ask, such as, for example, about war waged on the pretext of purity and justice under any given god.”
“It is worth considering how society (politics) uses religion as a tool to control and corral the masses with threats, fear and obscurantism,” the artist continued. “How religion often preemptively categorizes believers as either loyal followers or outlaws. Those who do not conform and obey are traditionally warned that they will be judged and condemned to eternal damnation — a clear form of intimidation.”
Katsadiotis is now confronted with a brigade of inflammatory Instagram commenters reiterating Papadopoulos’s claims of sacrilege and blasphemy.
Christophoros Katsadiotis, Left: “Icon 16” (2021); Proper: “Icon 1” (2021)
Native reviews point out that Papadopoulos’s infraction was labeled as a misdemeanor for minor property harm reasonably than a felony, necessitating his launch from custody.
The incident on the Nationwide Gallery comes shortly after an exhibition of artist Fabián Cháirez’s work depicting queer and suggestive pictures of nuns and monks was ordered to be suspended in Mexico Metropolis final week, after a number of protests and a authorized criticism from the nationwide chapter of the Affiliation of Christian Legal professionals alleging spiritual discrimination.
Final April, Italian artist Andrea Saltini was bodily attacked by an assailant who slashed his portray depicting Jesus Christ apparently receiving oral intercourse from Saint Longinus that was featured in a church in Carpi. A wood sculpture of the Virgin Mary actively birthing Jesus Christ was beheaded at an exhibition exploring girls’s function in religion in an Austrian cathedral in July that yr, and Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander’s outside sculpture “Witness” was additionally beheaded following a number of protests from Christian teams calling the art work a “satanic abortion idol.”
