Italian museum wants patriotic toilet back in show

[janbo1960]

The fate of a toilet that flushes to the strains of Italy's national anthem is in the hands of a tribunal following a complaint from a right-wing political party, according to a museum spokeswoman.

The creation was part of an exhibit, titled "Group Therapy," that opened at the modern art museum in Bolzano in September.

The toilet, installed by artists Eleonora Chiari and Sandra Goldschmied, plays an electronic version of the national anthem along with the sound of flushing, set off by a sensor when a visitor approaches.

The right-wing National Alliance party, which called the work a "massacre of respect," had it impounded on October 19, and the museum has been trying to get it back.

"The tribunal told us Monday that it would decide soon," spokeswoman Silvia Rissbacher said.

"Art is free in democracies," the museum said in a statement.

For its part, the Association of Italian Modern Art Museums said it backed the museum "with all its professional authority," saying it had been the victim of censorship.

[Skylace]

After I read it, seeing that type of censorshipI became all flushed!

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[faceless]

It sounds like a fine piece of modern art to me, in fact I reckon the guy should sell the toilets all over the world... The scots would happily take a crap on an english flag, the english on a german etc.