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Police Shut Down Mosque Installation at Venice Biennale Police Shut Down Mosque Installation at Venice Biennale
(about 1 hour later)
Police officials in Venice closed an art installation in the form of a functioning mosque on Friday morning, after officials declared the art project a security hazard and said that the Swiss-Icelandic artist who created it, Christoph Büchel, had not obtained proper permits and had violated city laws by allowing too many people inside. The police in Venice closed an art installation in the form of a functioning mosque on Friday morning, after city officials declared the art project a security hazard and said that the Swiss-Icelandic artist who created it, Christoph Büchel, had not obtained proper permits and had violated city laws by allowing too many people inside.
The provocative project, created inside a long-unused Catholic church, serves as Iceland’s national pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale and was intended in part to highlight the absence of a mosque in the historic heart of Venice, a city whose art and architecture were deeply influenced by Islamic trade and culture. But even before the installation, called “The Mosque,” opened for its first Friday prayers on May 8, it upset Venetian city officials and police authorities, who warned that it posed a security threat because of possible violence either by anti-Islamic extremists or Islamic extremists. The provocative project, created inside a long-unused Catholic church, serves as Iceland’s national pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale and was intended in part to highlight the absence of a mosque in the historic heart of Venice, a city whose art and architecture were deeply influenced by Islamic trade and culture. But even before the installation, called “The Mosque,” opened for its first Friday Prayers on May 8, it upset Venetian city officials and police authorities, who warned that it posed a security threat because of possible violence either by anti-Islamic extremists or Islamic extremists.
Since the opening, hundreds of Muslim residents of Venice and surrounding areas have visited to see or worship at the mosque, without incident. But in a flurry of letters, city officials also argued that special legal permission was needed within Venice to create a place of worship, and they rejected claims by Mr. Büchel and Icelandic art officials that the mosque was a simply a work of art functioning as a place of worship. Officials of the Venice Biennale and this year’s chief curator, Okwui Enwezor, have kept their distance from the project, issuing no public statements of support for it as it became clear that the city was intent on closing it. Since the opening, hundreds of Muslim residents of Venice and surrounding areas have visited to see or worship at the mosque, without incident. But in a flurry of letters, city officials also asserted that special legal permission was needed within Venice to create a place of worship, and they rejected claims by Mr. Büchel and Icelandic art officials that the mosque was simply a work of art functioning as a place of worship. Officials of the Venice Biennale and this year’s chief curator, Okwui Enwezor, have kept their distance from the project, issuing no public statements of support for it as it became clear that the city was intent on closing it.
During the opening ceremony, Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan’s ambassador to Italy, publicly thanked Mr. Büchel and the project’s curator, Nina Magnusdottir, for “a place of worship, a place of art, a place where communities can come together and talk, can dialogue with each other.”During the opening ceremony, Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan’s ambassador to Italy, publicly thanked Mr. Büchel and the project’s curator, Nina Magnusdottir, for “a place of worship, a place of art, a place where communities can come together and talk, can dialogue with each other.”
The Icelandic Art Center, which commissioned the installation, said in a statement that it believed the aims of the mosque had been realized, in a sense, even if the installation was not allowed to remain open, as originally planned, over the course of the Biennale through November.The Icelandic Art Center, which commissioned the installation, said in a statement that it believed the aims of the mosque had been realized, in a sense, even if the installation was not allowed to remain open, as originally planned, over the course of the Biennale through November.
“Christoph Büchel’s work ‘The Mosque’ is intended to shed light on institutionalized segregation and prejudices in society, including the conflicts that arise due to policies regarding immigration, which are pivotal in national and religious disputes all over the world,” the statement said. “It is fair to say that this goal has been achieved.”“Christoph Büchel’s work ‘The Mosque’ is intended to shed light on institutionalized segregation and prejudices in society, including the conflicts that arise due to policies regarding immigration, which are pivotal in national and religious disputes all over the world,” the statement said. “It is fair to say that this goal has been achieved.”