The Nationwide Gallery–Alexandros Soutsos Museum in Athens determined to take away 4 broken artworks by Greek artist Christophoros Katsadiotis from a bunch exhibition lower than per week after a far-right politician pulled them off the wall and broken them, alleging blasphemy. In a press release, the museum stated the choice was made for “the safety of the [museum], the artworks, the employees and the visitors, as well as the restoration of the smooth functioning of the institution,” and accomplished with permission from Katsadiotis.
Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a conservative Parliament member representing Greece’s far-right and ultra-religious Niki Get together, accessed the group present The Attract of the Weird late Monday morning, March 10, and took down 4 of Katsadiotis’s etchings depicting Saint Christopher, Saint George, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ. Papadopoulos shattered the protecting glass of two etchings, claiming that the works slipped from his palms. He was quickly detained and questioned onsite earlier than in the end being launched.
The incident got here days after Papadopoulos penned a letter demanding that the Nationwide Gallery de-install the “blasphemous” exhibition, alleging that Katsadiotis’s works “distort and desecrate the most sacred symbols of our Orthodox Christian tradition.”
Complaining that the present was funded by Greek Orthodox taxpayers, the politician specified that he holds the museum “responsible for any legal consequences, and [he] reserve[s] the right to exhaust all legal means to restore order and respect for our faith and tradition.”
Christophoros Katsadiotis, left: “Icon 1” (2021); proper: “Icon 17” (2021)
At some point after the incident, Katsadiotis said to Hyperallergic that “it is worth considering how society (politics) uses religion as a tool to control and corral the masses with threats, fear and obscurantism,” and the museum underscored that it “unequivocally condemns” any act of vandalism, violence, and any makes an attempt at censorship that threaten the liberty of creative expression.
A press convention ensued on the museum, throughout which the establishment’s director clarified that Katsadiotis’s works weren’t from the everlasting collections, that faculty visits didn’t embrace the exhibition, and that Papadopoulos and his confederate visited the exhibition twice, consciously ready for a crowd to dissipate earlier than vandalizing the artwork.
As a Parliament member, Papadopoulos was penalized via a one-time 50% discount of his month-to-month parliamentary allowance, amounting to about €2,550 (~$2,785) — reportedly the harshest disciplinary measure that may be administered to a politician. He won’t be faraway from his submit.
Neither Katsadiotis nor the museum instantly responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for remark relating to the choice to take away the paintings from the exhibition.
