The fate of a toilet that flushes to the strains of Italy’s national anthem is in the hands of a tribunal following a complaint from a right-wing political party, a museum spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The creation was part of an exhibit, titled Group Therapy, that opened at the museum of modern art in Bolzano in September.
The toilet, installed by artists Eleonora Chiari and Sandra Goldschmied, plays an electronic version of the national anthem along with the sound of flushing, set off by a sensor when a visitor approaches.
The right-wing National Alliance party, which called the work a ”massacre of respect”, had it impounded on October 19, and the museum has been trying to get it back.
”The tribunal told us Monday that it would decide soon,” spokesperson Silvia Rissbacher said.
”Art is free in democracies,” the museum said in a statement.
For its part, the Association of Italian Modern Art Museums said it backs the museum ”with all its professional authority”, adding it has been the victim of censorship. — Sapa-AFP