THE LOCAL (SWEDEN): The mayor of Malmö has slammed an upcoming exhibition of work by controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks, saying he hoped no one would visit the gallery to see artwork he said was "associated with xenophobes".
"Of course he has the right to display what he calls art anywhere he wants," Mayor Ilmar Reepalu told the TT news agency.
"But as far as I can gather, this is pretty bad art and I think they want to use the gallery for political ends," he added.
"Vilks is increasingly associated in people's minds with xenophobic groups at the far right of the political spectrum. I hope not a single person visits the gallery."
News of the show, set to open in July, prompted representatives from different religions in the multicultural southern city to call an emergency meeting,
Some observers appeared frightened that the show would provoke a violent reaction.
"I urge everyone to avoid violence in their demonstrations, because then the cause will be lost,” said Björn Lagerbäck of the municipal anti-discrimination project Dialogforum.
Vilks has faced numerous death threats since his drawing of the Muslim prophet with the body of a dog was first published by Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda in 2007. It was published to illustrate an editorial on free speech.
The new paintings of Mohammed would show the prophet - still with a dog's body - transplanted into famous works by artists including Claude Monet, Peter Paul Rubens and Anders Zorn, Vilks told the AFP news agency. » | TT/The Local/AFP/og | Wednesday, February 20, 2013
