Jeff Koons offered a sculpture as a gift to the city of Paris but the Ville Lumiere doesn’t agree where to place it.
The Professional Committee of Art Galleries wishes to make known its opposition to the permanent installation of the Jeff Koons sculpture ‘Bouquet of Tulips’ between the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris and the Palais de Tokyo.
This is not a matter of judging aesthetic qualities or the suitability of the sculpture as an homage to the victims of the attacks in France, but the location that was chosen.
While it is important to pay tribute to the artist for his generosity and attention to the victims of terrorism, it is also important that the commemoration of a dramatic event finds its place in an appropriate and specific context outside of any location related to artistic manifestations that could weaken or distract from the memory.
It is the duty of the City of Paris to make such a site in collaboration with all the people concerned, as well as the artist.
We believe that the immediate surroundings of the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, and the Palais de Tokyo—much like those of the Georges Pompidou Center—must remain free for those institutions to program depending on current events, and should not be subject to definitive, permanent attribution. By nature temporary, the artistic occupation of these spaces should be entrusted to the curators who are in charge of programming them.
Georges-Philippe Vallois
President of the Professional Committee of Art Galleries.
Leave a comment