A man sprayed his own blood at a sculpture of pop star Michael Jackson that is part of a Berlin exhibit of artworks belonging to the heir of a Nazi-era arms supplier, police said on Wednesday.
The man, identified by local media as Hungarian-born performance artist Istvan Kantor, missed his target and splattered the wall behind it on Tuesday at the show of Friedrich Christian Flick's modern-art collection in the Hamburger Bahnhof museum.
The golden-coloured statue of Jackson and his pet monkey Bubbles by American sculptor Paul McCarthy was not hit, police spokesperson Gabriele Rapsch said.
Kantor shouted, "I am protesting against the loss of independence in art," the BZ daily reported.
Security guards hustled Kantor out and police booked him for disturbing the peace and property damage. Kantor, 55, currently lives in Berlin.
Controversy has surrounded the Flick exhibition since it opened September 22, with many questioning whether it was appropriate to display works from the collection of 2 500 contemporary pieces given the family's background.
Flick's grandfather, Friedrich Flick, lost his fortune after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War 2 when he was sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes that included the use of slave labour in his arms factories and the confiscation of Jewish property. Released in 1950, he was able to rebuild his business in West Germany before his death in 1972.
Only hours after the collection went on display, a woman doing handsprings hurled herself into two art installations, damaging both before she was apprehended.
Source: Independent Online
The man, identified by local media as Hungarian-born performance artist Istvan Kantor, missed his target and splattered the wall behind it on Tuesday at the show of Friedrich Christian Flick's modern-art collection in the Hamburger Bahnhof museum.
The golden-coloured statue of Jackson and his pet monkey Bubbles by American sculptor Paul McCarthy was not hit, police spokesperson Gabriele Rapsch said.
Kantor shouted, "I am protesting against the loss of independence in art," the BZ daily reported.
Security guards hustled Kantor out and police booked him for disturbing the peace and property damage. Kantor, 55, currently lives in Berlin.
Controversy has surrounded the Flick exhibition since it opened September 22, with many questioning whether it was appropriate to display works from the collection of 2 500 contemporary pieces given the family's background.
Flick's grandfather, Friedrich Flick, lost his fortune after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War 2 when he was sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes that included the use of slave labour in his arms factories and the confiscation of Jewish property. Released in 1950, he was able to rebuild his business in West Germany before his death in 1972.
Only hours after the collection went on display, a woman doing handsprings hurled herself into two art installations, damaging both before she was apprehended.
Source: Independent Online