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| Britain |
| GalleryÂ’s invitation to deface the Bible brings obscene response |
| 2009-07-24 |
| A publicly funded exhibition is encouraging people to deface the Bible in the name of art — and visitors have responded with abuse and obscenity. The show includes a video of a woman ripping pages from the Bible and stuffing them into her bra, knickers and mouth. The open Bible is a central part of Made in God’s Image, an exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art (Goma) in Glasgow. By the book is a container of pens and a notice saying: “If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it.” The exhibit, Untitled 2009, was proposed by the Metropolitan Community Church, which said that the idea was to reclaim the Bible as a sacred text. But to the horror of many Christians, including the community church, visitors have daubed its pages with comments such as “This is all sexist pish, so disregard it all.” A contributor wrote on the first page of Genesis: “I am Bi, Female & Proud. I want no god who is disappointed in this.” The Church of Scotland expressed concern, the Roman Catholic Church called the exhibit infantile, and a Christian lawyers’ group said that the exhibition was symptomatic of a broken and lawless society. The exhibition has been created by the artists Anthony Schrag and David Malone, in association with organisations representing gay Christians and Muslims. Mr Schrag, the gallery’s artist in residence, said that he did not believe in God, but that his research for the £7,000 show had underlined his respect for people of faith. The community church, which celebrates “racial, cultural, linguistic, sexual, gender and theological diversity”, had suggested the “interactive” Bible and pens and Mr Schrag, 34, said he had been intrigued. “Any offensive things that have been written are not the point of the work,” he said. “It was an open gesture. Are those who say they are upset offended by the things that people write, or just by the very notion that someone should write on a Bible?” Just to clarify that question in your minds guys, why not put a Koran on display and see how long your heads will remain attached to your bodies |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Yeah, c'mon guys, throw a Koran up there. Or are you typical modern "artists" who only take a stand when there is no personal price to be paid? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-24 13:25 |
| #1 It would be so simple for a visitor to toss a Koran with its typical green cover on the floor next to the exhibit. Merriment would ensue, I'm sure. Perhaps that incident has already happened, but the staff has cleaned up the mess & the press, suppressed the news. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-07-24 10:59 |