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| Critics of Jeff Koons' floral tribute to Paris victims raise a stink | Critics of Jeff Koons' floral tribute to Paris victims raise a stink |
| (17 days later) | |
| A year after the terror attacks that struck Paris in November 2015, Jeff Koons said he would give the city a monumental sculpture meant to honour the victims – but critics of the project are saying “no thanks”. | A year after the terror attacks that struck Paris in November 2015, Jeff Koons said he would give the city a monumental sculpture meant to honour the victims – but critics of the project are saying “no thanks”. |
| About two dozen artists, gallery owners and officials have written an open letter urging the city of Paris not to install the 12-metre-tall Bouquet of Tulips outside the Museum of Modern Art and adjacent Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art centre. | About two dozen artists, gallery owners and officials have written an open letter urging the city of Paris not to install the 12-metre-tall Bouquet of Tulips outside the Museum of Modern Art and adjacent Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art centre. |
| The project – a giant hand holding multicoloured flowers – is meant to mimic the Statue of Liberty grasping its torch, but was denounced as a “product placement”, according to the letter, whose signatories include the film-maker Olivier Assayas and the former culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand. | The project – a giant hand holding multicoloured flowers – is meant to mimic the Statue of Liberty grasping its torch, but was denounced as a “product placement”, according to the letter, whose signatories include the film-maker Olivier Assayas and the former culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand. |
| “A brilliant and inventive creator in the 1980s, Jeff Koons has since become the emblem of industrial art which is spectacular and speculative,” it states. | “A brilliant and inventive creator in the 1980s, Jeff Koons has since become the emblem of industrial art which is spectacular and speculative,” it states. |
| But if the goal is to honour the victims of the deadliest terror attack ever on French soil, it says, “shouldn’t there be a call for submissions, as is usually the case, with an opportunity given to French artists?” | But if the goal is to honour the victims of the deadliest terror attack ever on French soil, it says, “shouldn’t there be a call for submissions, as is usually the case, with an opportunity given to French artists?” |
| It also says the site for the work is nowhere near the Stade de France nor the Bataclan concert hall and its nearby bars and restaurants where jihadi attackers killed a total of 130 people. | It also says the site for the work is nowhere near the Stade de France nor the Bataclan concert hall and its nearby bars and restaurants where jihadi attackers killed a total of 130 people. |
| Private donors financed the sculpture’s €3m (£2.6m) price tag, but taxpayers are on the hook for work required to reinforce the ground supporting the bronze, stainless steel and aluminium sculpture, the text says. | Private donors financed the sculpture’s €3m (£2.6m) price tag, but taxpayers are on the hook for work required to reinforce the ground supporting the bronze, stainless steel and aluminium sculpture, the text says. |
| Koons, who is known for toying with objects from popular culture, said it was designed as an offering in memory of the victims and as a symbol of optimism, in an effort to help Parisians overcome the tragedy. | Koons, who is known for toying with objects from popular culture, said it was designed as an offering in memory of the victims and as a symbol of optimism, in an effort to help Parisians overcome the tragedy. |
| Signatories of the letter include the artists Christian Boltanski and Jean-Luc Moulène, and Émilie Cariou, an MP in President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party and vice-president of parliament’s finances commission. | Signatories of the letter include the artists Christian Boltanski and Jean-Luc Moulène, and Émilie Cariou, an MP in President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party and vice-president of parliament’s finances commission. |