This is the second time a public sculpture by the British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor has been vandalized. This time, it's a lot more sensitive, especially in the light of European refugee crisis and a seemingly worldwide paranoia and xenophobia. The 230-foot sculpture, entitled Dirty Corner, caused a stir when it was erected in Versailles and the artist alluded that it "evoked the vagina of the queen." In this instance, Kapoor has decided to leave the anti-semitic, royalist text as a rebellion to the perpetrators.
Once again my work Dirty Corner has become a receptacle for the dirty politics of anti-Semitic vandals, racists and right-wing royalists. The vandalised sculpture now looks like a graveyard, the stones are now gravestones marking the ruinous politics of fundamentalist bigotry. Dirty Corner allows this dirty politics to expose itself fully, in full view for all to see. At this time, when we need to have compassion for the thousands of refugees on the road in Europe, the anti-Semitic, racist attack on Dirty Corner at Chateau de Versailles in Paris, brings to the forefront the intolerance and racism in our midst. Dirty Corner has become the vehicle for the expression of our anxiety of "the other" and emphasis that Art is a focus for our deepest longings and fears. It is urgent that we show our solidarity with the oppressed the downtrodden and those of our brothers and sisters in need. As the artist I have -for the second time- to ask myself what this act of violence means to my work. The sculpture will now carry the scars of this renewed attack. I will not allow this act of violence and intolerance to be erased. Dirty Corner will now be marked with hate and I will preserve these scars as a memory of this painful history. I am determined that Art will triumph. text by Anish Kapoor