Trieste, Leghist deputy mayor makes Marina Abramović's poster withdrawn: horrible work, it must disappear

In the end, the explanations of the organizers of the Trieste Barcolana, the great sailing regatta, the most crowded in the Mediterranean, which takes place every year in the waters of the Julian city, and which for 2018 will be held from October 5 to 14, were worth little. The event, in fact, was to be promoted with a poster featuring one of the biggest stars ofcontemporary art, Marina Abramović, depicted in the act of waving a flag with the words We’re all in the same boat, “We are all in the same boat.” Despite assurances from Mitja Gialuz, president of the Barcola and Grignano Sailing Society (organizer of the event), and Andrea Illy, patron of the Illy company (partner in the event and commissioner of the poster), that the poster carried a “message that speaks of sustainability”, that it “indicates that we have a common destiny, that we must care for the earth and that we can only achieve happiness through altruism” (so Illy), and that it also “fits perfectly with our regatta” (Gialuz), the poster featuring Marina Abramović was completely withdrawn, and the circulation blocked.

The reason? The writing did not please the leghists who govern the city in the center-right junta. Already in early July, Deputy Mayor Paolo Polidori (Lega Nord) had declared that it was “unacceptable, in very bad taste, immoral that political propaganda should be done with an event, the Barcolana, that belongs to the whole city,” and announced his intention to move to withdraw the municipality’s support for the event. Today Polidori, speaking to Repubblica, reiterated: “That poster has to go. Away from leaflets, invitations and official brochures. Forbidden: in Trieste and the rest of the world.” He added: “with the organizers I was clear: either that horror disappears, or the agreement with the city goes away. It means stop 30 thousand euros of funding, Frecce Tricolori, permits for occupation of public land, security.”

And the work, given the deputy mayor’s reaction and the risk of seeing the success of the event compromised, was indeed withdrawn. Last July 19, Gialuz and Polidori issued a joint statement in which they agreed on “the importance of not dividing, but uniting people around the great Barcolana celebration,” reiterating that the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano was working to overcome misunderstandings and to find an agreement with the municipality. An agreement that evidently had only one meaning: to put a stop to the dissemination of the poster featuring Marina Abramović. And the withdrawal took place, as Polidori confirmed today with another Facebook post: “the poster, which I continue to call ’horrendum opus,’ a horrible work as well as instrumentally political, as agreed will not be present on the territory of Trieste, which is (useful to point out) the limit of the competence of this administration!!!”

Now the question will have to be asked whether this case cannot be read as an episode of censorship against a work of art, and might not set a dangerous precedent.

Pictured is the Barcolana poster featuring Marina Abramović.

Trieste, Leghist deputy mayor makes Marina Abramović's poster withdrawn: horrible work, it must disappear

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