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Art World Luminaries Rally to Curator Accused of Child Porn Exhibit

By Hilary White

PARIS, December 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – More than 100 international figures of the art world have rushed to the defence of Henry-Claude Cousseau who is facing charges of displaying child pornography as art. Among the modern art luminaries defending Cousseau is England’s Sir Nicholas Serota, the curator of the prestigious Tate gallery.

Alfred Pacquement, director of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris told the Times that Cousseau is a “serious figure” in the modern art world.

The petition states, “We wish to express our dismay at this attack on the artistic and curatorial freedom of expression and offer our unconditional support for Henry-Claude Cousseau in the present circumstances, together with the exhibition curators Marie-Laure Bernadac (a curator at the Louvre) and Stéphanie Moisdon (an art critic).”

Cousseau, the director of the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, is accused of displaying works of “a violent pornographic nature, unacceptable for a young public” and “spreading violent messages of a pornographic character or contrary to the dignity due to a minor”.  A conviction could bring a fine of €75,000 and up to three years in prison.

The exhibition called, Presumed Innocent: Contemporary Art and Childhood, held in 2000, displayed works that included video footage of children performing graphic sex acts and photos of young children with their eyes scratched out.

The Times reports the exhibition was held at the Centre d’Arts Plastiques Contemporains, one of several important museums in Bordeaux. A judicial inquiry was opened in response to complaints from La Mouette, a child protection association in Agen.

Northern Ireland MLA Esmond Birnie of south Belfast and the Ulster Unionist Party’s spokesman for family and children, condemned the use of “artistic expression” as cover for “abusive pornography.” He expressed his shock at the “astonishing” level of support for Cousseau in the art community.

“We have all become aware of the way in which “modern art” has sometimes become an expensive joke; preserved dead sheep or sharks or an unmade bed or a pile of bricks,” said Birnie.

“It does seem, sadly, that these days art is an excuse for child pornography.”

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