Meet Saddam, The Shark

From the desk of Luc Van Braekel on Wed, 2006-01-18 12:05

When he was ruling Iraq, Saddam Hussein fed his enemies to the sharks. Now Czech artist David Cerny has created this shark-like "statue" of a captive Saddam.

The artwork was scheduled for display at the Dronkenput museum this autumn in the Belgian coastal town of Middelkerke. But, fearing "that certain population groups would find the work too provocative", mayor Michel Landuyt has banned the work from display, according to Belgian newspaper De Standaard. "You never know what could happen when you display such explosive stuff", Landuyt told newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. It will now be shown at the Museum for Modern Art in the neighboring city of Oostende.  According to Willy Van den Bussche, the conservator of the Museum for Modern Art, Cerny created the "Shark" sculpture as a form of "criticism of American foreign policy".

Provacative? Explosive?

Submitted by Claire (not verified) on Fri, 2006-01-20 05:11.

Provacative? Explosive? Hardly- how about just plain old Stupid. Who even pays attention to something this lame?

Saddam the Shark

Submitted by dougf (not verified) on Thu, 2006-01-19 05:55.

I enjoyed the article until I came to the line that the exhibit was created as criticism of American foreign policy---Tom W.

I think perhaps the fact that Saddam was bound hand and foot might have been a bit of a tip-off to the 'perspective' of the artiste .

Europe as a whole seems to have lost its way and now can no longer really differentiate between 'good' and 'bad'. Well, let me correct that observation slightly. Europe no longer really 'understands' that there are things that are really in themselves 'good or bad'. It's all in the context , and the culture .

European 'artistes' are merely the worst examples of the sickness.

Saddam as VICTIM.

Isn't 'nuance' wonderful?

Saddam the shark

Submitted by Tom W. (not verified) on Wed, 2006-01-18 21:56.

I enjoyed the article until I came to the line that the exhibit was created as criticism of American foreign policy.

What?! Saddam throws people to the sharks, but the U. S. gets criticized? Saddam is the victim here? The artist himself admits that Saddam threw people to the sharks, but that pales in comparison to U. S. foreign policy?

Europeans are simply hopeless. They're no longer able to reason.

3rd time

Submitted by Cogito on Thu, 2006-01-19 02:26.

Don't hate us. You might have to send us your boys a third time to save us in a decade or two. This time to de-muslimise us, maybe rechristianize and repopulate us. If you do so, never leave us anymore like you did after the cold war in 1989. I constantly have the feeling that it began to really go wrong after that. The socialist monster never felt as liberated as after the cold war.

Not Sure...

Submitted by C Luka (not verified) on Wed, 2006-01-18 16:20.

I'm not sure artwork like this is appropriate, even for someone like Saddam Hussein. It's one thing to condemn him to death, which I think should happen. On the other hand, we shouldn't debase ourselves by reveling in the grotesque.

Saddam is a sadistic, evil man -- but he is still a human, and the depiction of human death for sheer shock value isn't right. I rank this art along with the images of crucifixes in urine and the like -- there are some things sacred enough that we just shouldn't go there, and human life is one.

Maybe if your family were

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2006-01-19 08:49.

Maybe if your family were one of his victims, one of hundreds of thousands, would you see it in a different light. Maybe if it was you or one of your family being tortured and having your head sawed off would you see it different? Don't be naive in your thinking. This clown would cut your head off in a N.Y. second, without even thinking, and you would even consider thinking of him as some kind of human being?

I'm sure a work depicting

Submitted by Evan (not verified) on Wed, 2006-01-18 15:23.

I'm sure a work depicting George Bush and Tony Blair in some kind of sex act was
the more moderate replacement at the Dronkenput.

not religiously offensive

Submitted by Cogito on Wed, 2006-01-18 14:52.

European secularists seem to have a hard job understanding what is offensive to muslims and what not. There are many muslim opponents of Saddam Hussein. there is no verse in the Koran telling muslims what to do with artists who depict Saddam Hussein negatively.