"Asperges me" (Thierry de Cordier, «Outlook» exhibition)
Category: Visual Arts > Group exhibition
| Artist: | Thierry de Cordier |
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| Curator: | Christos Ioakimidis |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Genre: | Painting |
| Host: | Athens School of Fine Art |
| Place: | Athens |
Censorship incidents
| 2003 | Removal of «Asperges me» by Thierry de Cordier from the exhibition «Outlook»
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| 2005 | Prosecution of Christos Ioakimidis, curator of the exhibition «Outlook»
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| 2006 | Trial of Christos Ioakimidis, curator of the exhibition «Outlook»
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Description
During the ‘Outlook’ international exhibition, which was organised by the Organisation for the Promotion of Hellenic Culture within the framework of the ‘Cultural Olympiad’, it was decided on 10 December 2003 by the Organisation’s Board of Directors and with the consent of the exhibition’s artistic director, to remove the painting ‘Asperges me’ (1999) by the Belgian artist Thierry de Cordier. A statement was posted on the site, according to which ‘the work provoked strong reactions as an insult to the Cross [...] the intense debate that was initiated tends to overshadow the essence of the exhibition and to obstruct the public’s contact with contemporary art’. The artist himself reportedly consented to the removal. The matter had been widely publicised following complaints by politicians, political parties, newspapers and the Church: The work depicted a penis ejaculating on a cross. The exhibition was inaugurated on 25 October by the then President of the Republic, Kostis Stephanopoulos, and continued without any problems until politicians of the Popular Orthodox Rally, through complaints on TV channels and in the press, raised the issue of ‘the insult to the Christian religion’ and ‘to national symbols’, and demanded the intervention of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court. Georgios Karatzaferis, then president of the Popular Orthodox Rally, submitted a written question to the Minister of Culture asking for the removal of the painting. Members of the main opposition party aligned themselves behind this position, most characteristically with a statement by the former chairman of the New Democracy party, Miltiadis Evert, who threatened that ‘If they don’t take [the painting] down by Friday, I’ll go and remove it myself’ (Kathimerini 11/12/2003).
The public controversy over the removal of the work was long-lasting, was reported in the international Press and, as [legal author] Michael Tsapogas observed, was the occasion for a revival of scientific and political interest in the issue of censorship and has since been included in a number of comparative reports and studies on blasphemy law.
In 2005, at the end of the preliminary investigation, criminal proceedings were brought against the curator of the exhibition, because, according to the writ of summons, he displayed to the public ‘a painting that is indecent and despicable [...] a creation of a perverted artistic mind [...], which, though supposedly a work of art, is commonly perceived to offend the public’s sense of decency, since it could not be classed as a cultural creation and did not contribute with its content to the promotion of human knowledge and decency [...] publicly and maliciously insulting the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ.’ Following two adjournments, the trial was held at the Athens Misdemeanours Court on 10 May 2006. Predictably, the curator was acquitted on the grounds of lack of malice, evidenced by his consenting to have the work removed. ‘Do you want the accused to go to jail?’ the artistic director’s counsel for the defence asked the prosecution witness Archimandrite Epiphanios at the trial. ‘No,’ replied the archimandrite, ‘it is enough for me that the painting has come down.’
Penelope Petsini
Sources – Bibliography
- Ombudsman Archive, Human Rights Circle, Report 1546/28/1/2004, Mediation June 2005: Andreas Takis, Ioanna Tourkochoriti.
- Summons of the Athens Public Prosecutor, in Stavros Tsakyrakis, Religion against Art, Athens: Polis 2005, pp. 66-68.
- To Vima, 14/12/2003, 16/12/2003, 24/11/2008.
- Eleftherotypia, 11/5/2006.
- Kathimerini, 11/12/2003, 3/6/2005, 14/5/2006.
- Ta Nea, 16/12/2003, 11/5/2006.
- Rizospastis, 13/12/2003.
- Michalis Tsapogas, "Outlook" in P. Petsini and D. Christopoulos Dictionary of Censorship in Greece: Cachectic democracy - dictatorship - metapolitefsi, Athens: Kastaniotis 2018.
- «Appendix: Β. Outlook Case (Τιερί ντε Κορντιέ)» in D. Christopoulos, L. Karabinis, Y. Stavrakakis, Y. Ziogas (eds.) Aspects of Censorship in Greece, Athens: Nefeli 2007.
