The Italians retain a very direct approach to showing their displeasure. Vandals have daubed the back wall of the unpopular Ara Pacis museum, in Rome with red and green paint:
The back wall of a controversial museum designed by U.S. architect
Richard Meier was painted overnight with the red and green colors of
the Italian flag.
Vandals used paint-filled balloons to splash red and green against the white wall of the Ara Pacis museum, which sits on a fascist-era piazza in central Rome, police said Monday. The vandals also left a porcelain toilet and two packs of toilet paper nearby.
The white, block-like structure has attracted controversy since the project was assigned to Meier in 1998 by the center-left municipal administration in power at the time. Critics contend the modern building clashes with Rome's classical architecture.
There may be more to it than pure vandalism. The performance artist, Graziano Cecchini -- he who dyed the water of the Trevi Fountain red, among other antics -- is suspected of the act. A loo was left besides the toilet paper, and the red and green paint on the white wall mimicks the Italian flag; far too sophisticated for vandals stricto senso.
Pictures and the accusing finger at the aptly named Eternallycool.
Judith
Visit Zenobia's website at Empress of the East
Posted by: judith weingarten | June 02, 2009 at 11:19 AM