SEBASTIEN WRITES:

For three years years now the Chateau de Versailles has been disfigured by temporary exhibitions of state-promoted contemporary art. This year the culprit is the Japanese manga ‘artist’ Takashi Murakami whose plastic sculptures have ruined the Versailles experience for hundreds of thousands of tourists from all the over the world. Some of the most angry tourists are the Japanese. The French Embasssy in Paris has been inundatedby phone calls from Japanese citizens apologising for the trouble caused by the artworks. Over 12,000 people have signed two petitions protesting the Murakami exhibit and demonstrations have been held at the gates of the 17th century chateau. As a result, the director of the Palace of Versailles has agreed to hold no more art exhibits in the chateau’s royal apartments,  a decision that has angered the contemporary art community. 

Murakami said in a press statement, “I am the Cheshire Cat who greets Alice in Wonderland with his devilish grin, and chatters on as she wanders around the chateau.” The leader of a group formed in protest has called him “a parasite that feeds on an existing work of art.” 

The financial interest at stake in these public arts displays is not insignificant. Investment in contemporary art is a for many millionaires a tax haven whose value can only be maintained by this sort of exhibition. The Murakami exhibits are insured for huge sums, which have the effect of massively inflating the prices of these pieces of coloured plastic. 

Jean-Jacques Aillagon, who is responsible for this exhibition, is the openly homosexual president of the Palace of Versailles and Domaine Establishement. This publicly funded body answers to the Ministry of Culture run by Frederique Mitterand, the minister who admitted to sexual acts with young boys in his autobiography “la Mauvaise Vie.” At one time Jean-Jacques Ailligon worked for François Pinault, a millionaire modern art collector.

The Emir of Qatar is also funding this exhibition.

                                                      — Comments —

N.W. writes:

Do you think that possibly such artwork is the inevitable artistic expression of a consumeristic society defined by mass production? I’ve always thought that art is the physical manifestation of man’s spiritual relationship to the world around him. Given how superficially modern man is attached to anything I’d say that this crass mass-produced concoction is about what we should expect. The soil that this artwok grows out of is poor and shallow. Is it any wonder that the art follows suit, as the artist produces sickly and wilted monstrosities that blatantly assault the eyes and ears. Out of the soil ofour culture what else is possible? 

Laura writes:

 This is an old and ongoing story of the artist as defiler and purveyor of nihilism. Think of some of Picasso’s faces. The colors and patterns are interesting, but where is anything human in them?

Sebastien adds:

It does look that the Murakami exhibition was one step too far for the elites and we can only hope that they will think twice before doing this to Versailles. France however is defacing its cultural heritage at the speed of light and it may be down to foreign tourists to embarass the French into holding back on some of their grander designs. After all if a French person complains about this he will be accused of being a conservative, Catholic, royalist with Nazi tendencies. When the Japanese tourists make a fuss, it’s a little more difficult to make this accusation stick. 

In recent weeks it has been revealed that theRoman Arena in Fréjus has been covered in concrete. We also learn that the national archives with documents dating from the Merovingian period, will be moved to outside of Paris. This archive has over 100 kilometers of shelves with precious documents that are a very important part of our national story. As you know with every move, things disappear and are destroyed. This highly unneccessary move has been announced in order that the building be used to house the “Maison de l’Histoire de France”. This strange name (why not call it a Musée de l’histoire de France”) suggests that what will be on display will almost certainly be a deconstruction of French history. In any case there is plenty of room in the Invalides or Chateau de Vincennes for such a museum. The move is quite rushed as all must be complete by the end of 2011. Sarkozy’s presidential mandate finishes in 2012. 

We cannot forget museum closures and a long list of churches threatened with demolition , there is really nothing sacred to these elites.

Below are before and after photos of Fréjus.

N.W. writes:

Does Monsieur Sebastien know if the clandestine cultural restorationists of UX have weighed in on any of these cultural tragedies?

Nora writes:

At least this junk–whoops, I mean “art,” is temporary and can be carted away without permanent damage to its surroundings. If this exhibition had been there on my first trip to Versailles I’d be annoyed too, at its rude intrusion into my enjoyment of the palace that I traveled so far to see. What the “artist” lacks in talent, however, is more than made up by chutzpah. These things might have looked passably cute and fun in a children’s museum or white box modern gallery, but couldn’t he predict how thoroughly they would shrink into insignificance in such a setting? I’d be hiding my head in a paper bag right now if I were in his place.

Please follow and like us: