re: #79 Gus 802

Well if we’re going to use a left-wing/right-wing model here than how can a right-wing person say it’s OK to desecrate the Koran as an act of religious and/or political liberty yet at the same time say it’s NOT OK to desecrate the Crucifix?

Well, obviously they can’t.

A couple of things though: the religious-right-wing anger at and reaction to artwork such as Piss Christ is pretty tame compared to Muslim anger at Koran desecrations and Mohammed cartoons. The right-wing isn’t killing anyone over Piss Christ, Virgin in a Condom or any of these other red-rag-to-a-bull artworks.

Secondly, these artworks are designed to rile up religious conservatives and get them to respond. These artists love when this kind of vandalism happens because it shows how “subversive” and “edgy” they are. You could almost say that the outrage and vandalism is part of the artwork, viewing the whole performance/installation as a whole. I know when Virgin in a Condom was displayed in Wellington they had about 5 copies of it on hand, so that when one was smashed/removed etc they could put another one up in a couple of minutes. So I’m not going to get all upset about it.