Anish Kapoor sued for leaving racist graffiti on his sculpture at Versailles

The British artist Anish Kapoor recently announced that right wing Versailles municipal councillor, Mr Fabien Bouglé, had filed a lawsuit against him and the president of the Palace of Versailles, Catherine Pégard, for choosing not to remove some racist graffiti from his sculpture "Dirty Corner".

Dirty Corner by Anish Kapoor

The complainant, Bouglé, said that the vandalized artwork now incites racial hatred and insults and should be cleaned.

The sculpture was installed last June in the gardens of the French Palace of Versailles and has since been vandalised twice. The first time, the artwork was cleaned after being splattered with yellow paint a few days after its installation, but, after the second attack, the artist decided to leave the anti-Semitic messages on the sculpture's exterior. 

Although Kapoor strongly condemned the racist messages, he decided to leave them on the sculpture as a reminder of the intolerance and hate in the society. "I had already questioned the wisdom of cleaning it after the first vandalism. This time, I am convinced that nothing should be removed from these slurs, from these words which belong to antisemitism that we'd rather forget" Kapoor told le Figaro.

His choice has opened a public debate. On one side, the French President, François Hollande, expressed his support for the artist, agreeing with Kapoor's decision. Likewise, the French Culture Minister, Fleur Pellerin, said she respected Kapoor's choice, and said that the public debates surrounding Kapoor's decision were "extremely interesting and raise the question of creative freedom".

On the other side, Kapoor's choice was criticised by Jonathan Jones of the Guardian. Jones believes that Kapoor should reconsider his decision and clean the work, thereby not offering the vandals any publicity. According to the British journalist, the sculpture should be properly protected by the French Police and become a permanent addition to Versailles: that would be the true victory for culture over barbarism. 

 

For the moment, notices explaining the vandalism to visitors have been installed next to the work, while the French lawsuit against Kapoor is ongoing.  

Photo: Francois Guillot/ AFP Le Figaro