Sexy Buildings Prove Too Hot for the Louvre

A bit of x-rated architecture has the Louvre worrying about the potential corruption of young minds. The New York Times reports the venerable French museum has decided not to display "Domestikator," a 40-foot-tall installation by Dutch art collective Atelier Van Lishout. It was supposed to be unveiled in the the Louvre's Tuileries Garden on Oct. 19. But museum director Jean-Luc Martinez became concerned the piece "risks being misunderstood by visitors." The Louvre was also worried about the placing of "Domestikator" near a playground. Le Monde, as quoted by the Kansas City Star, describes how a building could elicit such a response: "The work evokes a couple in doggy style. Stylized, of course, Lego way, but nevertheless explicit."

"This is something that should not happen," Joep van Lieshout tells the Times. "A museum should be an open place for communication." The piece is supposed to represent “the power of humanity over the world and its hypocritical approach to nature," and the founder of Atelier Van Lishout says it's not even all that explicit. "There are no genitals; it's pretty innocent," he says. He also calls concerns about the effect of "Domestikator" on children "total hypocrisy," telling the Sun that school groups took trips to see it during its three years on exhibit in Germany. "If children see something as sexual, it is because they are old enough to see it," Lieshout says. And if you see something sexual, it's because "Domestikator" has found a museum more accepting of the love between a building and another building. (More The Louvre stories.)