Religious Icons: One Man's Artistic Expression - Another Man's Blasmephy

[Richard]

A Moscow court's ruling that curbs artistic expression, as well as fresh legislation to strengthen the KGB's successor and limit rights of public assembly, appear to some Russians to presage a broader crackdown.

Guess you can't "have it your way" in Russia.

And so it goes...

Richard

In ruling on artistic expression, some Russians see signs of broader crackdown
CSM, 16 July 2010

Russians are enjoying freer private lives than ever before. Russia appears to have weathered the global financial crisis, and unemployment and poverty rates are relatively low.

But some see a shadow approaching.

A court case that curbs artistic expression, and fresh legislation to strengthen the KGB’s successor and limit the right of public assembly, have some anticipating a crackdown on freedom.

The “government appears to be preparing itself to deal with large-scale public protests,” says Nikolai Petrov, with the Carnegie Center in Moscow. “It may not look like it on the surface, but there is a feeling that bad times are coming. The mechanisms are being put in place now to ensure that any social tensions or dissent within the elite can be quashed.”

Critics warn that the social contract created by former President Vladimir Putin – in which the Kremlin redistributed oil revenues via social programs in exchange for silence and political consent – is fraying.

Exhibit A is a Moscow court’s July 12 decision to fine former museum curators Yury Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev over “Forbidden Art,” a 2007 art exhibit. It displayed controversial images of Jesus, including one that replaced his head with Mickey Mouse’s face, and another with the Soviet-era Order of Lenin medal.

Many intellectuals had hoped for an acquittal. “It’s not just a particular art exhibit that was condemned ... but all social criticism as expressed through art,” says Yevgeny Ikhlov of the Moscow-based group For Human Rights. “It says we are not moving toward a normal society, with tolerant attitudes, but in another direction.”

'Inciting hatred'

The defendants were convicted of “inciting hatred” under a tougher and broader version of Western hate-speech laws. Alexander Dugin, one of the leading intellectuals of Russian nationalism, defends the court decision as standing up for Russian values.

“In Russia we consider [religion] a public matter, and take any mockery ... or profane expression as a crime against public opinion,” says Mr. Dugin. “These are our standards, and Samodurov and Yerofeyev are Russians who committed their acts in Russia.”

But Mr. Samodurov, former director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum in Moscow, says the social atmosphere is deteriorating, while hard-liners in government and the Russian Orthodox Church appear to be gaining.

“I felt support from artists and intellectuals” during the trial, he says. “But it was mostly in private discussion.... then they would tell me it’s too dangerous to say so out loud, that it’s a social taboo. This is where I felt completely alone.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europ...ader-crackdown

[Richard]

Yet another valid reason for the separation of any church and state.

However - YMMV...and so it goes...

Richard

Russian art or religious hatred?
CSM, 19 July 2010

On orders from Russia's parliament, Moscow prosecutors are probing a question that could create new limits on free speech: When does artistic expression cross the line into criminality?

A group of artists are being charged with "inciting religious hatred" for lampooning religious ideology in a controversial exhibit. For the defendants, who face up to five years in prison if convicted, official reaction to the "Caution: Religion" show, held at Moscow's Andrei Sakharov Museum last year, suggests the return of Soviet-style control - where dissent is quashed and policemen stand in for art critics. In place of the former Communist Party, they say, the Russian Orthodox Church is fast becoming the Kremlin's chief guardian of ideological purity.

The church, backed by conservative politicians, says the case is about protecting the sensibilities of religious believers from deliberate mockery in the public arena. "Any provocation that insults the feelings of the faithful and stirs up religious discord must be classified as a crime," said Metropolitan Kirill, chair of the church's department of external relations, said in an official statement.

"I had no idea what I was starting when I authorized that exhibition," says Yuri Samodurov, the museum's director and lead defendant in the case. "But I'm grateful, in a way, because it's made me aware of what's really developing in this society. And it is scaring me."

The trial of Mr. Samodurov and two artists, Lyudmilla Vasilovskaya and Anna Mikhalchuk, opened in last month. The official charge sheet declared that the defendants entered "into a conspiracy with the intent to inflict humiliation and offense upon the Christian faith as a whole and the Russian Orthodox Church in particular."

Almost immediately, the judge halted proceedings and ordered prosecutors to "tighten up" the charges. In Russian courts, experts say, this tactic is often a sign that jurists are uncomfortable with the case but unwilling to anger authorities by throwing the charges out.

The art display at the center of this storm, held in February 2003, featured works by 42 artists. Controversial exhibits included an oversized icon with a vacant space where the viewer could insert his/her own face in place of the usual holy figure. A sculpture of an Orthodox church made entirely of vodka bottles may have been a dig at the Church's own profitable tax-free alcohol trade in the 1990s. A photo triptych depicted three men being crucified, on a cross, a red star, and a swastika, seemingly equating the belief systems of each symbol. Perhaps most provocative was a stylized Coca-Cola ad, with Jesus' face superimposed and the words: "This is my blood."

The show lasted just four days, and was seen by only a few dozen people before being shut down after a group of spray-painting vandals defaced several of the works. The attackers were followers of a local Orthodox priest, Alexander Shargunov, who has hailed them as "heroes."

Popular indignation against the exhibition appears to run deep. Prosecutors say they have received thousands of letters from people all over the country demanding the artists be punished. "[This show] really insulted the religious sensitivities of the people," says Nadezhda Bekenyova, head of the department of ancient Russian art at the Tretyakov Art Museum.

Samodurov admits that the backlash that wrecked his exhibit could happen almost anywhere. He cites recurrent public controversy over flag-burning in the US and a recent tempest in Sweden over an artwork that seemed to glorify suicide bombers. "But this is especially possible in Russia," he says, "where we have little experience with coexisting in a mixed society or living by secular values."

After coming to trial, the six alleged art vandals were acquitted by a Moscow court, even though they had been apprehended by police at the scene. Then Russia's lower house of parliament passed a resolution directing prosecutors to open a criminal investigation of the Sakharov Museum. "We thought the organizers of that exhibit were inciting religious hatred, which is a crime," says Alexander Chuyev, a nationalist Duma deputy. "Freedom of artistic expression ends where freedom of other people begins."

Critics see the hand of the Orthodox Church, seeking to regain its Czarist-era role as the champion of Russian values. "Though our constitution stipulates that Russia is a secular state, the Church's influence over our federal authorities is growing every year," says Lyudmilla Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights organization. "If Samodurov and the others are convicted, it means we have returned to the Middle Ages."

Anatoly Shabad, a board member of the Sakharov Museum and one of the first Soviet-era democratic parliamentarians, says the rising political power of the once-oppressed Orthodox Church "reflects the present state of mind in the community," he says. "People want some sort of state philosophy - the Church steps in here - and they feel it should be enforced."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0719/p06s02-woeu.html

[Peregrino]

Looks like the Russians are ahead of the Islamists when it comes to actually implementing their anti-defamation program. Maybe Maplethorpe should try exhibiting in Moscow; we get rid of the trash and they shoulder the blame for "intollerance". Win - win!

I would recommend we not get sanctimonious about our religious tollerance. It is inevitable that we will have our own problems when the current "clash of cultures" really gets going.

[dr. mabuse]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

I would recommend we not get sanctimonious about our religious tollerance. It is inevitable that we will have our own problems when the current "clash of cultures" really gets going.

From what I've personally experienced in the past few years, the religious intolerance is definitely already here and growing my friends.

[craigepo]

maybe the danbury baptists were onto something?