Vienna museums protest social censorship and open OnlyFans account

Vienna’s museums are fed up with censorship: back in 2017, the Vienna Tourist Board protested against the London transport company, which had refused to put up posters featuring works by Egon Schiele on the London Underground because of the nudes depicted in them. And as a result, Vienna had responded with provocative intelligence.

This time, the censorship that does not go down well with the Austrian museums is that of social media: as is well known, in fact, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram do not look kindly on images of artistic nudes, and although works of art are allowed by social media policies, not infrequently the algorithm inflicts censorship and penalties on those who post works of art. So in order not to incur any censorship, Vienna Tourist Board decided to open an account on OnlyFans, a platform where users sell adult content for a fee: it is a portal widely used, for example, by those who organize erotic shows via webcam, even in amateur form.

It all stems from when, in July, theAlbertina Museum ’s account had been suspended on TikTok for posting some works by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki: the account had then been deleted and the museum had been forced to create a new one. This was not, however, the first time that Viennese museums had run afoul of Facebook censorship: think only of the Leopold Museum’s collection of works by Egon Schiele. Or the very famous case, which has gone around the world, of the Venus of Willendorf kept at the Naturhistorisches Museum, and censored by Facebook. The TikTok episode was the straw that broke the camel’s back, however, and so now the Vienna museums will post their “adult” content on OnlyFans.

“Over the years,” the Vienna Tourist Board explains in a note, “Vienna has been home to some of the world’s most famous artists, including Egon Schiele and Koloman Moser, whose works pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in art and society at the time. Besides changing the face of art forever, they are also known for their unflinching depictions of the naked human body. So it is not at all surprising to learn that some of their artworks were censored more than a hundred years ago. And the battle against censorship still rages on: with the rise of social media, bans like these are back in the headlines. Major social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook have nudity and ’obscene’ content firmly in their sights. Vienna and its art institutions are among the victims of this new wave of prudery, with nude statues and famous artworks blacklisted according to social media guidelines and with repeat offenders even having their accounts temporarily suspended. That’s why we decided to put world-famous ’explicit’ artworks on OnlyFans. By putting historical adult content on OnlyFans, subscribers can now see provocative works by the likes of Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, Koloman Moser, and Amedeo Modigliani, all on display in the capital. OnlyFans revolutionized social media by offering creators a platform where they could freely share nude and pornographic content with subscribers.”

Just subscribe to the Vienna channel on OnlyFans, priced at $4.99 per month (for the first thirty days discounted to $3 per month) to get access to all the content. Subscribing will be very convenient for those who decide to travel to Vienna in person, because subscribers will receive a free Vienna City Card (this is the card that allows free travel on public transportation in Austria’s capital city, and entitles entitlement to many discounts at museums, and a Hop-On Hop-Off tourist bus ticket) or free admission to one of the participating museums, namely the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Naturhistorisches Museum and the Albertina.

All’s well that ends well? In short: the institution has not been able to promote the campaign linked to OnlyFans on the most popular social media because the ads have always been rejected. But with this initiative, the Vienna Tourist Board still hopes to bring an ... open-minded audience to Vienna.

Pictured: the Venus of Willendorf

Vienna museums protest social censorship and open OnlyFans account

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