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Attack on 'blasphemous' art work fires debate on role of religion in France

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/18/andres-serrano-piss-christ-destroyed-christian-protesters said:
When New York artist Andres Serrano plunged a plastic crucifix into a glass of his own urine and photographed it in 1987 under the title Piss Christ, he said he was making a statement on the misuse of religion.

Controversy has followed the work ever since, but reached an unprecedented peak on Palm Sunday when it was attacked with hammers and destroyed after an "anti-blasphemy" campaign by French Catholic fundamentalists in the southern city of Avignon.

The violent slashing of the picture, and another Serrano photograph of a meditating nun, has plunged secular France into soul-searching about Christian fundamentalism and Nicolas Sarkozy's use of religious populism in his bid for re-election next year.

It also marks a return to an old standoff between Serrano and the religious right that dates back more than 20 years, to Reagan-era Republicanism in the US.

The photograph, full title Immersion (Piss Christ), was made in 1987 as part of Serrano's series showing religious objects submerged in fluids such as blood and milk. In 1989, rightwing Christian senators' criticism of Piss Christ led to a heated US debate on public arts funding. Republican Jesse James told the senate Serrano was "not an artist. He's a jerk."

Serrano defended his photograph as a criticism of the "billion-dollar Christ-for-profit industry" and a "condemnation of those who abuse the teachings of Christ for their own ignoble ends". It was vandalised in Australia, and neo-Nazis ransacked a Serrano show in Sweden in 2007.

Looks like France isn't only having problems with Muslims as we are being lead by some to believe. The Christians are being unruly too.
 
Looks like France isn't only having problems with Muslims as we are being lead by some to believe. The Christians are being unruly too.

France is having problems?

Or is it really Mr. Serrano thats having problems?
 
I'm a Christian. Although I find the "piss Christ" to be highly offensive and not a work of art, I respect the person's right to express themselves even if it offends me. We don't have the right to not be offended, we do have the right to free speech. There is a difference between a senator proposing a law and a law actually being passed and implemented.
 
They didn't cut of any non-believers' heads? They aren't very good at this religious zealotry are they?
 
The symbolism is provocative, but since it is only a figurative representation of what world religions do to themselves spiritually, I can only be so against it. I think people would be challenged to pick out a Christian who hasn't "pissed" on their religion in some way.
 
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I'm a Christian. Although I find the "piss Christ" to be highly offensive and not a work of art, I respect the person's right to express themselves even if it offends me. We don't have the right to not be offended, we do have the right to free speech. There is a difference between a senator proposing a law and a law actually being passed and implemented.

How do the actions or otherwise of senators relate to French Christian intolerance?
 
I'm a Christian. Although I find the "piss Christ" to be highly offensive and not a work of art, I respect the person's right to express themselves even if it offends me. We don't have the right to not be offended, we do have the right to free speech. There is a difference between a senator proposing a law and a law actually being passed and implemented.


thats not expression that just crap and hes not an artist
 
Looks like France isn't only having problems with Muslims as we are being lead by some to believe. The Christians are being unruly too.

If only Muslims would go after offensive cartoons and rip them to shreads.
 
Eh, it's just a photograph. I'm sure he has the negative and can just print up another one. If not, I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to recreate the image. Not saying this was right, but there are far more serious things to get excited about.
 
Eh, it's just a photograph. I'm sure he has the negative and can just print up another one. If not, I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to recreate the image. Not saying this was right, but there are far more serious things to get excited about.


actually getting a perfect duplicate of a favored print is pretty difficult. There's a lot of unique variables in doing it by hand (like chemically stopping the development), that you just never encounter with digital prints, and chances are, an exact duplicate will never be made

Shame to, because I always thought it was a beautiful print
 
Looks like France isn't only having problems with Muslims as we are being lead by some to believe. The Christians are being unruly too.

4 stupid young thugs smash the "artwork" with hammers and suddenly France is having "problems" with the Christians? Come one, now... The 1000 strong protest was largely peaceful.
 
4 stupid young thugs smash the "artwork" with hammers and suddenly France is having "problems" with the Christians? Come one, now... The 1000 strong protest was largely peaceful.

Why didn't all those peaceful Christians stop the extremists among their ranks?
 
Why didn't all those peaceful Christians stop the extremists among their ranks?

Maybe because they had the right to do it?

Until dipping a cross in a cup of piss equates to decapitating a dozen people, you will not have a point. I just hope you don't make such a stupid point again. You would need a dunce cap if you did.
 
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actually getting a perfect duplicate of a favored print is pretty difficult. There's a lot of unique variables in doing it by hand (like chemically stopping the development), that you just never encounter with digital prints, and chances are, an exact duplicate will never be made
Heck, maybe the later copy will be better and now it will have even greater notoriety because of what happened here.

Shame to, because I always thought it was a beautiful print
Really?

Piss_Christ_by_Serrano_Andres_%281987%29.jpg


Well, to each their own.
 
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Im a Christian i really do not find the offensive at all. I actually think its a pretty cool photo.
 
Of course it's offensive. That's the purpose. It's offensive, controversial and in your face. In my opinion that is the beauty and very definition of art. Art is supposed to evoke a reaction of some sort, even if it is extreme disgust and repulsion. I think that the "Piss Christ" piece is very provocative, but also makes a very powerful statement that some may agree or disagree with. You can be disgusted and disagree all you want, but it doesn't cease to be art. Believe it or not, but one can actually find beauty in things that repulse or offend us.
 
And on an added note, the only thing that I feel after looking at that picture is envy and disappointment because I didn't think of doing that first.
 
I'm a Christian. Although I find the "piss Christ" to be highly offensive and not a work of art, I respect the person's right to express themselves even if it offends me. We don't have the right to not be offended, we do have the right to free speech. There is a difference between a senator proposing a law and a law actually being passed and implemented.

Allow me to add to this: I find these displays highly offensive and piss me off to the point where I want to hurt someone. However, I understand that it's that person's right to express themselves in that manner and it's not my right to kick the **** out of that person for expressing his God given right of expression.
 
If I hadn't known it was actually piss, I would've just looked at it and said "Hey look it's Jesus encased in amber! How pretty!"
 
Looks like France isn't only having problems with Muslims as we are being lead by some to believe. The Christians are being unruly too.

Whenever you pull up an instance of a "Christian" committing a violent act allegedly in the name of religion, please make 2 comparisons

Compare the individual and/or group population to the total number of Christians in the area and compare the amount of public support v. public condemnation.
 
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"It also marks a return to an old standoff between Serrano and the religious right that dates back more than 20 years, to Reagan-era Republicanism in the US."

The argument in the United States wasn't so much about the total garbage Serrano produces that stupid tasteless liberal hacks call "art", but over the fact that the American taxpayer was being robbed to provide funding for that ****.

Take the American taxpayer out of loop, remove federal tax funding for art museums (not allowed under the Tenth Amendment), and the furor in the US would never have gotten past the Rubber-Ducky-Making-Bubbles-In-The-Bathtub stage.

That the intolerance of France is being highlighted in the aftermath of their freedom ending ban on burkas and religious iconographic adornment is must a media quirk.

There's no comparison to the United States, as must be obvious becuase Serrano's bull**** work wasn't harmed in the United States.

Also, since Piss Christ is a PHOTOGRAPH, not only it is possble to print an identical copy up tomorrow, it can be spammed on-line to all the Frenchmen who damaged the original peice of crap.

Bad taste is immortal.
 
The symbolism is provocative, but since it is only a figurative representation of what world religions do to themselves spiritually, I can only be so against it. I think people would be challenged to pick out a Christian who hasn't "pissed" on their religion in some way.

There's Jesus....
 
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