Art Law Gallery Blog | Article Link
In March 2007, the
exhibition "Forbidden Art-2006" opened at the Sakharov Museum in
Moscow, featuring twenty-three provocative works previously banned throughout
Russia. Andrei Erofeev, known as Russia's most provocative curator, organized
the exhibition and Yuri Samodurov, former director of the Sakharov Museum,
provided the exhibit's venue. Both have been found guilty under Russia's
Criminal Code for using the exhibit to incite religious and ethnic hatred.
Erofeev installed
“Forbidden Art-2006” behind temporarily constructed walls with fitted
peepholes, emphasizing the deliberate choice of the audience to view the
forbidden works. The controversial works considered anti-religious,
pornographic and offensive by the Kremlin, included an iconoclast image of
Vladimir Lenin as Jesus Christ impaled on the cross and pious Christians
worshipping Mickey Mouse instead of Jesus Christ.