Spain: Museum of censored art exhibits works that were forbidden to be displayed
Exhibition
The private Museum of Forbidden Art was thrown open to the public in Barcelona on Thursday (October 26) in Barcelona. This new museum has been devoted to artworks that were previously censored. It has 42 works by artists around the world that have been denounced, attacked or removed from exhibition. The artists include Francisco de Goya (Spain), Andy Warhol (US), Ai Weiwei (China) and more. The artworks are part of collection owned by Tatxo Benet, a Spanish businessman.
These artworks have indeed caused controversies, but Benet makes an important distinction.
"We don't collect or show scandalous or controversial works in the museum. We show works in the museum that have been censored, assaulted, violated, banned," he told AFP.
"Works that have a history behind them, without that history they wouldn't be here," he added.
There are several artworks that deal with religion. For example, artist Jani Leinonen's 'McJesus' shows Ronald McDonald on a crucifix. The artwork was withdrawn from a museum in Israel.
Another notable artwork is by French-Algerian artist Zoulikha Bouabdellah which shows 30 Muslim prayer mats. Each of these mats was adorned with a pair of sequinned stilettos. The artwork was pulled from an exhibition in France in 2015 after a Muslim group complained about it.
Benet is one of the founders of Spanish Multimedia group Mediapro. He started his collection in 2018 when he bought an installation called "Political prisoners in Contemporary Spain".
The installation had black-and-white photos with pixellated images of people's faces, people who had broken the law. Catalan separatist leaders are among the photos. These leaders had faced legal action over a failed 2017 secession bid. The work is by Spanish artist Santiago Sierra. It was pulled from Madrid art fair just two hours after Benet bought it.
The Museum of Forbidden Art has also on display,paintings and sketches made by former inmates at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. These include a work showing Statue of Liberty submerged in water with only the hand holding the torch and the crown visible.
After exhibition of artworks made by Guantanamo Bay prisoners caused a controversy in 2017, the US government ordered that artworks made by inmates at the prison would have to be destroyed when they are released.
"Any artist who can't show their work because someone prevents them from doing so is an artist who is censored, and therefore will always have a place in this museum," Benet said.
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