Greek artist warns of fanaticism after art vandalised
"This violence is increasingly present in Europe and the United States, where ideas of purity, race or faith fuel nationalism," artist Christophoros Katsadiotis told AFP in an interview on May 29.
On March 10, four of Katsadiotis's artworks at Greece's National Gallery were thrown to the ground by two members of extreme-right Orthodox Christian party Niki -- one of them a party lawmaker -- who viewed them as "blasphemous".
Two months later, about 30 masked individuals attempted to assault him before an event in Thessaloniki, resulting in the 53-year-old engraver being put under police protection during public appearances.
Katsadiotis said the vandalisation incident at the National Gallery was "an attack on democracy... (and) our civilisation".
"If I need police protection, then freedom of expression no longer exists. It's a form of censorship," he told AFP on the sidelines of his new exhibition in Athens.
The art in question -- four engravings depicting Saint Christopher with a dog's head -- was part of a collective exhibition titled "The Allure of the Bizarre".
The two perpetrators, who smashed the glass protecting the engravings, were detained by police but later released.
Niki later expelled the lawmaker involved, Nikolaos Papadopoulos, from the party and the National Gallery has sued him.
Outcry
Katsadiotis is also planning to take legal action.
"I was surprised and upset. It was the first time this had happened to me," he said.
The incident at the National Gallery sparked an outcry and was condemned by the culture ministry.
But the Orthodox Church, which holds broad influence over politics and society in Greece, has publicly criticised parts of the exhibition involving Katsadiotis, who spends his time between Athens and Paris.
The Greek Church's governing body, the Holy Synod, voiced "regret" over "the content of certain works in this exhibition" and said it would "take action with the Greek government", without providing further details.
Katsadiotis is currently presenting a solo exhibition, including engravings and collages, at the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Security was reinforced around the building during the opening last week and police stationed three vehicles outside the entrance, he said.
Papadopoulos has continued to publicly condemn the artist's works as "a brutal insult" to sacred Orthodox icons.
At the National Gallery, Katsadiotis's engravings are now protected by a transparent panel and an alarm is triggered if visitors get too close.
'Dangerous for the public'
The museum, which houses masterpieces of modern Greek and European art, has also increased protection overall due to "ongoing threats against the exhibited works and its staff".
"Initially, the idea was to leave the damaged works on the ground to illustrate... the violence," Katsadiotis said.
"(But) far-right sympathisers came to trample on them, which was dangerous for the public."
Niki, known for its nationalistic and homophobic rhetoric, has 10 MPs in the 300-seat Greek parliament.
This is not the first time it has sought to influence art policy.
In late 2023, the conservative government took down the work "Flag" by US-Greek artist Georgia Lale from the Greek consulate in New York following a complaint from the ultra-conservative party.
The artist had depicted a Greek flag with pink and red stripes instead of its official blue and white colours, to denounce feminicides in Greece.
"This decision left the field open for Niki to continue its attacks," said Katsadiotis.
He said there was a rise in militant vandalism and warned that "fanaticism" could spiral out of control, offering the example of the fatal attacks in Paris in 2015 after satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo republished caricatures of the prophet Mohammed from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
34 minutes ago
- France 24
Son of ousted Iranian shah warns West against 'throwing lifeline' to Iran leadership
"I can hardly imagine that a regime that is now severely diminished in its capabilities and has been practically humiliated is in the mood for more talks," Reza Pahlavi, formerly crown prince and now a key opposition figure, said in an interview in Paris. He said that the Islamic republic, whose top diplomat Abbas Araghchi held talks with European foreign ministers in Switzerland on Friday, had "time and time again" been "deceitful" in negotiations. "This regime is collapsing... You can facilitate that by standing this time with them (the Iranian people), not throwing this regime another lifeline to survive," he said. "The end of the regime is near... this is our Berlin Wall moment," the US-based Pahlavi added. Israel has carried out 10 days of air strikes against Iran, seeking to degrade its nuclear and ballistics programmes, but also hitting other targets. The United States joined in with unprecedented attacks of its own, including on the heavily-fortified Fordo nuclear site. Khamenei's whereabouts are unclear and Israel has refused to rule out killing him. Khamenei has led the country since the 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Reza Pahlavi, without giving further details, said he had information that Khamenei was underground in a bunker "and unfortunately using people as a human shield". And he said that he had received "credible reports" that top officials and members of the supreme leader's family were looking at ways to flee Iran. He also said that he had received indications from people in the security forces that they were willing to switch sides and join the opposition. "They are beginning to communicate with us from the military, the intelligence apparatus... people will see that more tangibly in the coming days and weeks," he said, declining to comment on the scale of such approaches.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Rutte: New NATO target will quintuple air defence, buy 1000s of tanks
NATO's increased defence spending target will see allies finance a five-fold increase in air defence capabilities, the purchase of "thousands" more tanks and armoured vehicles and "millions of rounds" of artillery ammunition, the alliance's chief Mark Rutte said on Monday on the eve of a summit in The Hague. Leaders from the 32 allied countries are expected to sign off on a new defence spending target of 5% of GDP on Wednesday, more than double the 2% level agreed in 2014 at a summit in Wales. Rutte described the hike as "a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future" which will lead to a "stronger, fairer, more lethal alliance." "Our security environment has changed," he said, adding that if the alliance doesn't ramp up spending and production its "deterrence will not be strong enough" in a few years when Russia could have the means to attack another European country. The target is to be split in two: 3.5% of GDP is to be spent on core military spending (which includes military equipment), while an additional 1.5% will go towards defence-related investments to boost military mobility, cybersecurity, military and civilian cooperation as well as resilience to hybrid threats. The whole list, which was subject to thorny negotiations among allies with a deal reached last Thursday, will however remain classified. Allies will need to have reached the target by 2035 at the latest, according to sources close to the negotiations. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, emphasised on Wednesday morning that for Washington, "the timeline, quite frankly, is as soon as possible." "There's not an unlimited timeframe here, our adversaries will not wait for us to be ready," he told reporters. "We would expect meaningful incredible growth from allies in their defence budgets year-on-year." A review of where each nation stands in terms of spending and in acquiring the capability it needs is to be held in 2029. Rutte said the 2029 review and the fact allies will have to submit annual reports is a "big difference from the Welsh pledge" to commit 2% of GDP, which many allies failed to attain until this year following heavy criticism and veiled threats from the new US administration. He also said that allies, which include Albania, Canada, 23 EU countries, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Turkey, the UK, and the US, will have "flexibility to determine their path for delivering" on their NATO commitments. This is the same formula he used on Sunday in his letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who had until then rejected the new spending target citing economic difficulties at home. The summit in The Hague officially starts on Tuesday with meetings between foreign and defence ministers, which Ukrainian officials will join. Leaders, meanwhile, will gather for a social dinner hosted by the Dutch king, before convening for a single working session on Wednesday morning. The format, sources with knowledge of the event have said, was drawn up to ensure US President Donald Trump's attendance and focus on the task and topic at hand. Similarly, the joint declaration released at the end is expected to be much shorter than the ones that came out of Washington and Vilnius where the two last summits were held. It should state that Russia continues to pose a long-term threat to the euro-Atlantic security. Ukraine will be briefly mentioned, with allies set to reaffirm their support to the war-torn country but to not reiterate its "irreversible path" to membership as they did last year. Rutte sought however to reject any criticism the alliance, under US influence, could be slashing aid to Kyiv, affirming on Monday that NATO's support to Ukraine is "unwavering and will persist" as shown by the fact allies have upped their aid from the $20 billion (€17.3 billion) previously announced to $35 billion (€30 billion) so far this year. The crisis unfolding in the Middle East is however expected to cast a shadow over the summit. "When it comes to NATO's stance on Iran's nuclear programme, allies have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon," Rutte said. He also stressed that there is a "close connection" between Iran and the alliance's main threat, Russia, as Tehran "is heavily involved in the fight of Russia against Ukraine" notably through the supply of Shahed kamikaze drones.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
NATO to take 'quantum leap' with 5% summit pledge: Rutte
The 32 members of the alliance will pledge to boost defence expenditure to five percent of gross domestic product, a key demand of President Donald Trump, who has long grumbled that the US pays too much for NATO. NATO's members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate at least 3.5 percent of GDP to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related items like cybersecurity and infrastructure. "The defence investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline, five percent of GDP to be invested in defence," Rutte told reporters at a pre-summit news conference. "This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future." The focus at the summit in the Hague will be on keeping Trump happy after his return to power sparked fears he could blow a hole in the seven-decade-old alliance. In the run-up to the meeting, Spain had sparked fears of undermining a carefully choreographed unity by refusing to commit to the headline figure of five percent. But Rutte stressed that Spain had not been granted an "opt-out" from the pledge. "NATO does not have as an alliance opt-outs, side deals, etcetera, because we all have to chip in," Rutte said. The NATO chief said that the increase in spending would see the alliance boost its air defences five-fold and add thousands more tanks and armoured vehicles to its arsenals. "Our focus is ensuring that we have all we need to deter and defend against any threat," he said. "Of course, the most significant and direct threat facing this alliance remains the Russian Federation." Iranian 'stranglehold' Rutte insisted that the summit would also send a strong signal of support to Ukraine -- despite Trump upending the West's stance towards Russia's war on Kyiv. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a state dinner with the Dutch king but he has largely been sidelined from the summit's main event. Rutte said that Europe was stepping up already to fill the gap left by Washington pulling back from supporting Ukraine. He said that Europe and Canada had already pledged 35 billion euros ($40 billion) to help arm Kyiv so far this year. Dismissing the idea that the fresh conflict between Israel and Iran could deflect attention from the summit, Rutte stressed that Tehran should not be permitted to possess a nuclear weapon. He said his "greatest fear" was that Iran would secure access to a nuclear bomb, giving it a "stranglehold" over Israel, the region, and the wider world. Over the weekend, Trump said that US warplanes had used "bunker buster" bombs that had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities. Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat. Pressed over the legality of Washington's strikes against Iran, the NATO chief replied: "I would not agree that this is against international law, what the US did." © 2025 AFP
