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Art of naked Queen, Bush creates furor in Austria
Last Updated Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:53:39 EST
CBC Arts
A humourous art display that depicts U.S. President George W. Bush and
France's Jacques Chirac naked and frolicking with the Queen has
embarrassed Austrian officials.

Officials in Vienna yanked the public display Wednesday, just days
before the country assumes the presidency of the European Union.

Electronic billboards were flashing the images at motorists throughout
the Austrian capital.

The images showed two naked female models wearing masks of President
Bush and the Queen, and a male model with a President Jacques Chirac
mask, positioned as if they were having sex.

The images of the naked trio were designed by Carlos Aires, 31, of
Madrid, who said they showed "the most recent changes in Europe and
the resulting spatial constructions," according to the London
Telegraph.

The project's organizers called the images a "direct criticism of
globalization." The work was a project of the independent artists'
group euroPart, which involves 75 European artists. The artists come
from all 25 member countries of the European Union.

The posters were scheduled for display on 400 billboards in Vienna
until Jan. 24, and were scheduled to move to Salzburg for the start of
the Sound of Europe conference. The project has 150 images, but just
three of them had sexual overtones.

Austrian media reported the exhibit was closed, after less than 24
hours on display, after a personal request from Chancellor Wolfgang
Schuessel.

Schuessel condemned the group sex image in the Krone newspaper,
saying: "It has nothing to do with art. The borders of good taste and
reasonableness have been crossed by a long way."

Leading opposition party figures suggested Schuessel was indirectly
responsible, since the artists' group had received about $1.4 million
in government subsidies.

Schuessel spokeswoman Heidi Glueck was quoted by the Austria Press
Agency as saying the chancellor had been "unaware" of the subject
matter of the art.

The EU presidency, which rotates among member states, is moving from
Britain to Austria at the end of the year.