St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum is reportedly under investigation over complaints of blasphemy.
Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky told journalists on December 7 that investigators were examining artwork in the exhibition "End of Fun" by the British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman.
According to Piotrovsky, the investigators told him that some visitors called the Chapmans' work "extremist" and complained that it "hurt their religious feelings."
It includes a Christian cross with the figure of Ronald McDonald nailed to it. Another features a crucified teddy bear.
Piotrovsky said that he was outraged by the prosecutor's investigation and called the complaints "culturally degrading to our society."
No strangers to controversy, the Chapmans also recently presented their shocking imagery at Kyiv's first International Biennale of Contemporary Art.
The exhibition is scheduled to run at the Hermitage until January 13.
-- Dan Wisniewski
Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky told journalists on December 7 that investigators were examining artwork in the exhibition "End of Fun" by the British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman.
According to Piotrovsky, the investigators told him that some visitors called the Chapmans' work "extremist" and complained that it "hurt their religious feelings."
It includes a Christian cross with the figure of Ronald McDonald nailed to it. Another features a crucified teddy bear.
The Chapman brothers presented their shocking imagery in Kyiv earlier this year.
In this video (which features stills from "End of Fun"), the brothers discuss the "antirealism" of their installation, discussing how their "hell" could be a universal condition rather than any specific temporal-historical place.Piotrovsky said that he was outraged by the prosecutor's investigation and called the complaints "culturally degrading to our society."
No strangers to controversy, the Chapmans also recently presented their shocking imagery at Kyiv's first International Biennale of Contemporary Art.
The exhibition is scheduled to run at the Hermitage until January 13.
-- Dan Wisniewski