The holy-book bomb: is this the most offensive artwork ever?

THE GUARDIAN
By Aaron Rosen

Turning anxiety into art … Mounir Fatmi’s Connexion. Photograph: Thames & Hudson

UNITED KINGDOM---The art that makes people uneasy differs, of course, from faith to faith. Understandably, Jews are selective about what goes on display in synagogues – But it’s rare for Jews to judge art in the public sphere by its adherence, or lack thereof, to Jewish law. The question of artistic offence is hotly discussed when it comes to Islam. The media tends to caricature Muslims as quick to anger at the slightest artistic offence. One productive response is to turn this anxiety into art. In a recent sculpture, Mounir Fatmi wired a copy of the Qu’ran and the New Testament together with a tangle of brightly coloured electrical cables, which was interpreted as a holy-book bomb. [link]