There was news of an art exhibit in Vienna, Austria at a museum attached to the Roman Catholic Cathedral there. The art works were by renowned Austrian artist Alfred Hrdlicka who was celebrating his 80th birthday with his show entitled “Religion, Flesh & Power”.
I saw a brief video of the pieces on exhibit and I read descriptions of the art works and I will tell you; I was a bit stunned.
Mind you, this exhibit was put on and therefore sanctioned by the Catholic Church in Austria and the museum curator is amazed at having to defend the exhibit.
I will hasten to say that one piece “The Last Supper” is basically a homosexual orgy of the Apostles – graphic to say the least. Another piece showed the crucifixion with a Roman soldier basically holding Jesus’ privates while whipping him. These are just short glimpses that I had. The video was done by GLORIA TV which is a Catholic web site.
There are a lot of themes playing here. Obviously, some Catholics cried “blasphemy” and were very confused how this exhibit came to be supported by the Church.
Others mentioned the Mohammed Cartoons in Denmark and how this was similar in the outrage it provoked – BUT NO ONE WAS RIOTING – YET – and we shall see if Austrians can show the Muslims what freedom of speech really means in Europe.
An Austrian Cardinal did yank the “Last Supper” off the wall but was quick to add that it was NOT CENCORSHIP but, in his words, “reverence for the sacred” – interesting!
I will follow this story a bit because it so intrigued me but also my own initial negative reaction to the exhibit intrigued me – why?
I saw a brief video of the pieces on exhibit and I read descriptions of the art works and I will tell you; I was a bit stunned.
Mind you, this exhibit was put on and therefore sanctioned by the Catholic Church in Austria and the museum curator is amazed at having to defend the exhibit.
I will hasten to say that one piece “The Last Supper” is basically a homosexual orgy of the Apostles – graphic to say the least. Another piece showed the crucifixion with a Roman soldier basically holding Jesus’ privates while whipping him. These are just short glimpses that I had. The video was done by GLORIA TV which is a Catholic web site.
There are a lot of themes playing here. Obviously, some Catholics cried “blasphemy” and were very confused how this exhibit came to be supported by the Church.
Others mentioned the Mohammed Cartoons in Denmark and how this was similar in the outrage it provoked – BUT NO ONE WAS RIOTING – YET – and we shall see if Austrians can show the Muslims what freedom of speech really means in Europe.
An Austrian Cardinal did yank the “Last Supper” off the wall but was quick to add that it was NOT CENCORSHIP but, in his words, “reverence for the sacred” – interesting!
I will follow this story a bit because it so intrigued me but also my own initial negative reaction to the exhibit intrigued me – why?
Cardinal Schönborn has given a statement explaining his stand on the Hrdlicka Last Supper painting. The text is on the Reuters religion blog FaithWorld at http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/04/09/vienna-cardinal-explains-stand-on-erotic-last-supper-painting/
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