What would Jan Sobieski think?
Vienna is in the midst of a bit of a Satanic Verses episode, because of this statue:
It is, obviously enough, a female nude sporting a headscarf. Mind you, it could be a balaclava... So far, so not enormously interesting. However, it is entitled 'Turkish Delight', and the Turks are not happy. At all.
What has happened to it is not entirely clear, as one report refers to it having been removed, and another to it having been knocked over:
"A statue of a nude woman donning a headscarf that was on exhibit at the premises of the Technical University in Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria was removed by unknown people following adverse reactions. Turkish Ambassador to Vienna Selim Yenel said the sculpture was not damaged but only removed from its place". It might be a flawed translation, but that suggests to me that Yenel knows what happened through direct involvement, which rather oversteps the mark both in terms of practical art criticism and muscular diplomacy.
Meanwhile another paper notes the following: "A statue of a nude woman wearing only a headscarf was knocked down from its place in the garden of the Technical University of Vienna in Karlsplatz yesterday".
The mystery thickens somewhat, and one has to ask whether anyone would have paid any attention if the statue had had another name.
Meanwhile, Johnny Turk does seem exceptionally prickly at the moment, as "Maps showing so-called "Kurdistan" as including certain cities and areas of Turkey have been removed from the Kurdish traffic police cars and other official vehicles in northern Iraq".
(Polish king Jan Sobieski saved Turkish-besieged Vienna in 1683, if anyone did not get the reference, and was viewed at the time as having just saved Western Civilisation).
It is, obviously enough, a female nude sporting a headscarf. Mind you, it could be a balaclava... So far, so not enormously interesting. However, it is entitled 'Turkish Delight', and the Turks are not happy. At all.What has happened to it is not entirely clear, as one report refers to it having been removed, and another to it having been knocked over:
"A statue of a nude woman donning a headscarf that was on exhibit at the premises of the Technical University in Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria was removed by unknown people following adverse reactions. Turkish Ambassador to Vienna Selim Yenel said the sculpture was not damaged but only removed from its place". It might be a flawed translation, but that suggests to me that Yenel knows what happened through direct involvement, which rather oversteps the mark both in terms of practical art criticism and muscular diplomacy.
Meanwhile another paper notes the following: "A statue of a nude woman wearing only a headscarf was knocked down from its place in the garden of the Technical University of Vienna in Karlsplatz yesterday".
The mystery thickens somewhat, and one has to ask whether anyone would have paid any attention if the statue had had another name.
Meanwhile, Johnny Turk does seem exceptionally prickly at the moment, as "Maps showing so-called "Kurdistan" as including certain cities and areas of Turkey have been removed from the Kurdish traffic police cars and other official vehicles in northern Iraq".
(Polish king Jan Sobieski saved Turkish-besieged Vienna in 1683, if anyone did not get the reference, and was viewed at the time as having just saved Western Civilisation).
Labels: Austria, The arts, Turkey
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 10, 2007 at 2:41 pm.
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I'd prefer the 72 virgins.
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Shouldn't be so cross on someone else 's blog, sorry; but it's a lovely sculpture.
HG - I don't think it's a particularly "lovely statue". What are its merits? It's just a competently rendered naked adolescent girl.
But I do think Western pole dancers could adopt the costume as it is important to display the burqa as the stupid piece of religious aggression that it is. Well photographed pole dancers dressed only in g-strings and a burqa would go a long way to wrecking this issue for the Wahabbis. In fact, knowing the thrill-hungry West, it would become a sex symbol pdq and any woman wearing it presumed to be a hussy.
Result: death of this particular form of persecution and separation.
It's the little things that are so important, don't you think?
Chinese spam - very tasty.
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