Bare bum artwork removed from Forum building: ‘Everybody has the right to feel comfortable’
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Foto ter illustratie (via Unsplash)
For years, a picture hung in a conference room in the Forum building, which showed the naked buttocks of a marble nymph sculpture. After several complaints the artwork has been removed, leaving some employees upset, as the picture was taken by their late colleague Marijn van Beers, who passed away last year.
The late IT employee Marijn van Beers took the picture in the famous Musée La Piscine in Roubaix in 2008; it depicts the back and buttocks of a marble nymph sculpture in black and white. The railing of the old pool can be seen in the background.
For about ten years employees would look up at the female derriere during meetings in the Forum building, until roughly six months ago, when Radboud Services’ management team decided to remove it after receiving several complaints. ‘We consider it of the utmost importance to offer an inclusive work environment, where everybody feels comfortable’, as explained by division director Iwan Holleman.
Loaded
However, this leaves a few employees upset, as they considered the picture to be a nice memory and tribute to a former colleague. A heated discussion flared up via e-mail last week. Holleman understands the sensitivity of the issue. ‘The fact that the picture was taken by a colleague who passed away makes this a very loaded subject. Personally, I think it’s a beautiful photograph. But that is not the point. The point is that everybody has a right to feel comfortable in the workplace.’
A possible cause of the recent commotion is the influx of new staff members in the Forum building. The reorganisation of the Information & Library Services division has led to a different composition of staff; it has become much more diverse, with more young people and women, for example. ‘That affects the environment and the culture’, according to Holleman.
Old News
This is not the first time that a work of art has been removed from a university building after complaints were made. In 2013 a provocative painting was removed from the Huygens building; it depicted a naked man whose erection was grasped by a clothed woman wearing a headdress.
Out of Date
But the removal of the artwork is not the only change in store for the Forum. ‘The building’s interior is very out of date and could do with a fresh coat of paint’, says Holleman. He thinks that the recent discussion about the butt picture is a nice leadup to talks regarding appropriate decoration in the office. ‘Times have changed, after all.’
Translated by Jasper Pesch.
