Those who are threatening Abel Azcona should lighten up. He just wanted to digest the Qur’an’s lessons and draw nourishment from their wisdom. “Spanish Artist Receives Threats After Eating Koran,” by
Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, January 22:
The
Navarran artist Abel Azcona, international exponent of performance art,
is receiving threats because of his work “Eating a Koran”, in which he
eats pages from the book sacred to Muslims.The piece forms part of an invetigation [sic] project initiated during a
residency on the topic of religious fundamentalism and the need to
“nourish ourselves with fiction, lies and fear”. Specifically, this
project consists of an installation, a performance and a video work, in
which the artist eats a copy of the Koran over eight hours as a critique
of religious radicalism. “I believe in freedom of expression,
provocation and artistic freedom, and I will certainly continue doing so
today, tomorrow and always,” comments Abel Azcona, who has been
threated by anonymous letters, emails and SMS.“I believe in art as a critical tool and to create debate about the
politics of identity”, adds the Navarran artist, who has received
criticism ever since he started in performance art, “but they will never
change my way of thinking and working; what’s more, the threats clarify
my path, and I know that I am in the right.” For that reason he will go
on using art “as a critical weapon for whoever wants to feel it and
listen to it.”Source: Deia.com H/T: Maria José