A nude performance at Musee d'Orsay
Deborah de Robertis arrested
January 20th, 2016
What differentiates an artistic performance in which a naked body is exposed, from an obscene act in public place such as the Musee d'Orsay? Perhaps the fact that there's a camera and a premeditated project?
The fine line between the two and a total acceptance of what may be understood as a "performance" is still to find out, what we know for now is that an artist, Deborah de Robertis, ended up in handcuffs after lying naked in front of Olympia by Edouard Manet, painting kept in the museum and currently on display in the exhibition Splendeurs et misères, images of the prostitution 1850-1910, the theme of which is prostitution.
The artist has previously shown his naked body in front of Courbet's famous Origin of the World and even then she had caused an uproar, declaring then, along with her lawyer, that "this form of censorship and coercion is not a good sign for the development of art and the freedom of expression".
Is it our world which is still firmly anchored to strict parameters of moralism, or is it necessary to establish absolute limits of decency?