Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Piggyback (1997) was recently removed from display at Rome’s contemporary art museum MAXXI, de-installed before the September closing of the permanent collection exhibit “Remembering is Not Enough.” Observatory on the Rights of the Child group complained to the government. Its president Antonio Marziale demanded that the work would never be shown again.
This is not about an attack on the freedom of artistic expression, but to avoid promoting depictions with a clear paedo-pornographic context behind the art.
MAXXI director Anna Mattirolo told The Telegraph that the decision does in fact attack freedom of artistic expression:
Crudity is part of the Chapmans’ work, they are known for works that denounce a sick reality. They want to generate discussion about false morality and provoke debate and we firmly believe and support the freedom of expression of the artists.
Jake and Dinos Chapman’s art also includes images of mass human misery, fascist oppression, death camps, crucifixion and other unethical horrors of the world made into terrifying physical objects, but it’s this sculpture of a dick-tongued crotch-less doll-like morphed pair that’s been deemed unacceptable by the Italian government. See no evil? (Image via Artnet)
