The three parties in the ruling coalition in Flanders are against taking down the hanging sculptures covered with the shells of beetles created by convicted visual artist Jan Fabre from the Flemish parliament, unlike Vooruit, many of whose legislators feel his works should be removed, Belga News Agency reports.
Fabre received a one-month suspended prison sentence on Friday after being convicted of sexual harassment and violence, plus one charge of indecent assault.
“Now that a judge feels the acts of which Jan Fabre was accused are established and he is convicted, this artist can no longer be on a pedestal in the Flemish parliament,” Vooruit’s Katia Segers and Hannelore Goeman commented. “Allowing these works to hang would be a strange signal to the many Flemmings and the many schoolchildren who visit parliament.”
Legislators from the Open-Vld, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) and Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) parties disagreed.
“These works of art do not glorify the man, so I feel they should remain,” said Willem-Frederik Schiltz, head of the Open Vld group in parliament. “It must remain clear that a work is more than an artist.”
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“You need to separate the works from the man,” commented N-VA’s Wilfried Vandaele. “If we remove the works of Fabre, we should also start checking on the other works in Parliament. When does one withdraw something? Only when the artist is convicted?”
Vandaele suggested, on the other hand, that it might be possible to add a text to the works of Jan Fabre, an idea supported by Peter Van Rompuy, head of the CD&V group of legislators.
“We condemn all forms of sexual violence,” Van Rompuy said, “but the works of art that are in parliament can remain there if a very visible text mentioning the difference between the works and the artist is added.”
The CD&V wishes to submit the issue to the Flemish parliament’s Art Commission, he added. This commission, made up of experts from the world of art, advises the legislative body on the purchase of works of art to be displayed on its premises.
