Macba censures its own exhibition

Storm clouds hang over the Barcelona's museum of contemporary art (Macba) following the decision of museum director Bartomeu Marí to withdraw a sculpture which depicts the former king of Spain being sodomised by a Bolivian peasant activist woman and a dog. The work is by artists Ines Doujak and John Barker, of Austrian and British nationality respectively and had previously been publically exhibited in Brazil. The piece, called Haute Couture 04 Transport, was withdrawn as Marí considered it to be offensive and “conveys a message that could be harmful to the Macba”. Marí claimed that his decision was coherent with the museum's policies. The exhibition is a collaboration between the museum and Stuttgart's Württemberg Kuntsverein. The curating commission includes two experts who have had a lengthy association with the museum and one of them, Valentín Roma, expressed his surprise at the move, especially with the timing of the withdrawal and the nature of the censure.