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 Furor Over Jesus Gay Orgy Art
by The Associated Press
Posted: April 11, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Vienna) Is it art - or is it blasphemy?
Austrians are locked in a nationwide debate
touched off by the brief display in a prestigious Roman Catholic museum of an
etching that depicts Jesus Christ and his disciples having a gay orgy during the
biblical Last Supper.
A chastened and chagrined Cardinal Christoph
Schoenborn, the top churchman in this largely conservative and overwhelmingly
Catholic country, has ordered the offending artwork removed.
But the controversy rages on, with the Austrian
media comparing it to the furor triggered by the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
In some ways, it is proving as emotional as the
political firestorm that occurred in New York in 1999, when then-Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani was so offended by a portrait of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant
dung that he temporarily cut off funding to the Brooklyn Museum.
"I've even seen Web postings from extremists
who have threatened to come to Vienna and blow up its museums with Molotov
cocktails," exhibition curator Michael Kaufmann said Friday.
The dispute began on March 12 with the opening of
"Religion, Flesh and Power," a collection of about 50 paintings,
drawings and sculptures - some with homo-erotic themes - by Austrian artist
Alfred Hrdlicka.
Among them is Hrdlicka's rendition of the Last
Supper: a large, loosely rendered black and white etching that shows Jesus and
his disciples engaging in sex acts on the table where they shared their final
meal before Christ's crucifixion.
Hrdlicka, who turned 80 earlier this year, drew
the scene in 1984 in tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini, an Italian philosopher and
award-winning filmmaker whose treatment of religious themes put him at odds with
the Catholic church.
Angry faithful have been quarreling mainly about
the venue: an Archdiocese of Vienna museum just across the cobblestones from St.
Stephen's Cathedral - a grand church that was built in 1147 and serves as the
epicenter of the capital.
"That such an exhibit is on display in a
diocesan museum is unbelievable," said visitor Richard Lyon, of Glasgow,
Scotland.
"I am deeply offended and profoundly
disgusted," Lyon wrote in the museum's guest book. "Whatever led the
directors and others responsible to think that our Lord could be represented in
such a way?"
In a statement issued this week, Schoenborn - a
staunchly conservative archbishop who was frequently mentioned as a potential
successor to the late Pope John Paul II - sought to distance himself from the
backlash.
"The exhibition does not mean that the
cathedral museum identifies with all of Hrdlicka's works," Schoenborn said.
"Of course, I would not have agreed to the
presentation of works which are blasphemous or pornographic. I therefore
expressly regret that a picture of this kind - without my knowledge - was
included in the exhibition. This picture, which is injurious to the faithful,
was removed on my orders on March 20."
The etching has since been moved to the private
Ernst Hilger Gallery, a short stroll from the cathedral museum, where the rest
of Hrdlicka's works will remain on display through May 10.
No demonstrations have been held outside either
venue.
Bernhard Boehler, director of the cathedral
museum, said earlier this week he was "surprised at the heat of the
battle" over the orgy drawing.
"In Austria, no special reason is required
for a church museum to dedicate an exhibition to the most important living
sculptor," Boehler said. But he said the museum decided to remove the
offending work "out of consideration for the religious feelings of some
Christians."
"The protests came primarily out of
fundamentalist Christian circles in the USA and Germany," he said,
referring to various Web sites.
"There is a long dialogue between art and
the church," Boehler added. "For the church, the quality is decisive -
not the piety of the artwork."
Hrdlicka could not be reached for comment Friday.
But Kaufmann, the curator, said he was caught off-guard by the intensity of the
debate.
"We were really sensitive" in choosing
which works to show, he said, "and for me, the etching is fantastic."
Even Schoenborn paid homage to Hrdlicka as
"one of Austria's most important living artists."
"Like nearly no other artist, he is
concerned about suffering and mistreated people ... and he expresses this in his
work in a shocking way," the cardinal said. "He says of himself that
he is a communist and an atheist, but he nevertheless has a burning interest in
the Bible."
Kaufmann concedes the whole point of the
exhibition backfired badly.
"Their intention was to show that the church
is wide open," he said. "Alfred (Hrdlicka) is more Christian than many
people who go to church each Sunday."
©365Gay.com 2008
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