this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 93 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

He paid for it, it's his art to destroy now.
If you don't like that, or think I'm being insensitive, then maybe we shouldn't let rich people buy and hoard art.
If they're culturally or historically important, why are they in a private collection?
Is it sad to see? Yes, absolutely. But not any more sad than it falling into the hands of a private collector in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Agreed 100%.

Also Assange is a whistleblower and is in jail for it... Sad.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Assange is not really a whistleblower... He's a journalist who published the content whistleblowers gave him

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

More like an editor, even. Making the persecution just so much sadder.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Instead, the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.

Well played. If people care more about inanimate objects than someone being tortured by the western powers, their priorities need to be highlighted.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago

“I’m not trying to destroy art, and I don’t believe I will have to,” Molodkin told the Guardian, adding that the project, called Dead Man’s Switch, was itself a collaborative artwork like any sculpture or portrait.

Dammit why do I see his point?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Instead, the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.

Let him cook.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wait, what? Are you saying you agree with Assange's torture?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

No, they say that thy want for the artist to keep doing what he's doing. Keeping the threat up.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

Well, yeah, he could destroy the art whenever he wants. He doesn't have to try at all.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Adjusted for inflation, OJ Simpson's legal fees during his murder trial were about $10m. I wonder what kind of lawyers you could get for Assange with $45m.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

I'm sure some very good ones though I doubt that matters much of the CIA wants to kill you. Woo I've been proven innocent now the CIA will have to leave me alone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

I very seldom like installation art but this project has merit. Good for him.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is someone high up in the decision making process a huge art lover or something? It seems like he is just setting fire to a huge pile of money otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

He's planning to try and destroy art? What a poorly worded headline...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

As a native speaker I thought it was clear, akin to the “what are you gonna do, stab me?” -man who was stabbed quote.

For more context:

Andrei Molodkin, the Russian dissident artist, has said he does not believe the works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol and others, which he will lock away in a safe with a corrosive substance this Friday, will actually be destroyed.

“I’m not trying to destroy art, and I don’t believe I will have to,” Molodkin told the Guardian, adding that the project, called Dead Man’s Switch, was itself a collaborative artwork like any sculpture or portrait.

“It’s not activism. I believe that Assange will be free and all the collectors and artists who have donated their work did so because they believe he will not die in prison.”

Instead, the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's exactly my point.. The way the headline is worded it conflates his plan with trying to destroy the art when the full context of the quote is his clarifying that he's specifically not trying to destroy the art nor does he believe it'll come to that. It's a misleading headline that also doesn't quite make sense as it conflates trying to do something with publicly "planning" to do something you don't believe will actually happen.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yes unusually cluckbaity /editorialy news headline from the Guardian I thought.