Austrian outrage over QEII/Bush sex poster

by **emad** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:15 pm

A controversy has erupted in Austria over a public arts project depicting Queen Elizabeth II, George W Bush and Jacques Chirac apparently having sex. The posters were part of a series of 150 different images being flashed to motorists via billboards across Vienna. The sex poster, and one of a woman lying naked on a bed, except for a pair of knickers bearing the EU flag, have been condemned as pornographic. The scandal comes days before Austria takes over the EU presidency. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said he could not order removal of the posters, as it was an "independent artistic project". Artists from across the European Union had contributed images on a range of subjects to the display, part of the 25Peaces art project which has received around 1m euros (£680,000) from the government. Social developments The image by Spanish artist Carlos Aires, showing the naked threesome wearing rubber masks of the Queen and two presidents, has caused the most controversy. But he is reported to claim it shows the "most recent changes in Europe and the resulting spatial constructions". Nobody would describe Egon Schiele as a pornographer Georg Springer 25Peaces Organisers of the project, which celebrates 60 years of Austria's republic and 10 years of its membership of the EU, say the posters reflect the "different social, historical and political developments in Europe". Other images in the series include a woman with a flower planted in her mouth, pink baby-grows full of packets of food and a businessman lying on top of a pile of crushed cars. An EU-themed image, unlikely to go down well in Brussels, shows a scaffold made up of the words Equal Consuming Habits and Ideal Market, with EU flag forming the hangman's noose. Georg Springer, organiser of the 25Peaces project, rejected the complaints of pornography. He told Austrian ORF radio: "Nobody would describe [the painter] Egon Schiele as a pornographer". But he said some of the posters would be taken down in the coming days. 'Not good' Leader of Austria's right-wing Freedom Party (FPO) Heinz-Christian Strache described the Aires posters as "group sex fantasies". Leader of Austria's Social Democrats (SPO) Norbert Darabos said he was not against artistic freedom but objected to the fact that the project had received 1m euros of federal funding. Salzburg regional leader Gabi Burgstaller said the pictures were "not good for Europe" and were demeaning to women, adding: "One should avoid such things." Other schemes in the 25Peaces project have included planting a vegetable garden on Heldenplatz - the square where Adolf Hitler announced Germany's annexation of Austria. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4567000.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world...567000.stm</a> HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS!!!!

by **emad** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:33 pm

Austria pulls Chirac-Bush-Queen sex posters Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:49 AM ET VIENNA (Reuters) - Posters depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth having sex with the U.S. and French presidents were removed from Vienna's streets on Friday to defuse an uproar that embarrassed Austria as it prepares to take on the EU presidency. The images, splashed on scores of electronic rolling billboards, showed two naked female models wearing masks of President George W. Bush and the queen, and a male model with a President Jacques Chirac mask, posed as if engaged in a sex act. A second poster, among 150 from around Europe and organized by Austrian curators with partial state funding, displayed the lower torso of a woman sprawled in knickers adorned with the European Union's circle-of-stars emblem. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel had appealed to the artists to pull the posters after opposition leaders and the media blasted them as pornographic, sexist and a blow to Austria's reputation on the eve of its EU presidency, starting on Sunday. Tanja Ostojic, who created the knickers image, resembling a controversial 19th-century painting by Gustave Courbet entitled "Origin of the World", complained of "public censorship". Spanish artist Carlos Aires, responsible for the Queen-Chirac-Bush trio, said he "suddenly had this image of three decision-makers having an orgy while everything around them collapses". But while Aires and Ostojic said they were disappointed the public had not "engaged with the artistic message" of their works, they agreed to remove them to avoid detracting from the others involved in the "euroPART" project. The art promoter 25peaces, which commissioned the project, said the images were meant to "reflect on the different social, historical and political developments in Europe" and that the fuss over the sex posters distorted the entire undertaking. The controversy exercised newspapers around Europe. Germany's Financial Times-Deutschland headlined its story "European group sex in Austria" and Italy's Corriere della Sera said the images were "not necessarily the height of good taste". Left-wing opposition leaders accused the government of using 500,000 euros ($590,000) in taxpayers' money to fund the project via a cultural agency. The government said it had no part in choosing the images and did not know their content in advance. The poster series is to be shown until the end of January. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-12-30T124944Z_01_EIC945658_RTRUKOC_0_US-AUSTRIA-POSTERS.xml&archived=False">today.reuters.com/news/ne...ived=False</a>

by **marykmusic** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:53 pm

It's the Public Money angle that's always a problem. Here in the US, that's especially true. Art is in the eye of the beholder. I can certainly understand the symbolism of QEII, GW, and any other politician orgying while the world colapses. But some people might actually LIKE that Frenchman... --MaryK

Austrian outrage over QEII/Bush sex poster

Austrian outrage over QEII/Bush sex poster

Austria pulls Chirac-Bush-Queen sex posters

Re: Austria pulls Chirac-Bush-Queen sex posters

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