How a Nativity Scene Sent Europe Into a Tizzy

"If you need any further proof that the world has gone topsy-turvy, look no further than the theft of an icon of the baby Jesus from a nativity scene in Grand Place in the Brussels city center in late November. The nativity scene is the work of German-born artist and designer Victoria-Maria Geyer, who constructed the figures in the scene of Christ's birth not out of wood, as is traditionally done, but out of recycled textiles with faces consisting only of black and brown patchwork with no identifiable features."

"Geyer wrote in her original proposal for the installation that her aim with the design of the city-commissioned installation, entitled "Fabrics of the Nativity," was to create a scene in which " every Catholic, regardless of their background or origins can identify themselves." Commissioned as a replacement for the former wooden nativity that had stood in Grand Place for 25 years, the committee that selected Geyer's work included Father Benoît Lobet, the dean of the Sts. Michael and Gudula Cathedral, the central church of Brussels."

"Despite the fact that one of the city's highest-ranking Catholic clerics was involved in its selection, "Fabrics of the Nativity"drew controversy almost immediately upon its installation on November 28, largely from political and religious conservatives in Belgium and around the world. Georges Dallemagne of the conservative Christian Democrats party called it "a zombie exhibition." Others, including Ghent University professor Wouter Duyck, suggested the faceless figures were not an artistic"

A faceless nativity scene installed in Brussels used recycled textiles and black and brown patchwork faces to represent the Holy Family and visitors. The artist aimed to create a scene in which every Catholic, regardless of background or origin, could identify themselves. The installation replaced a 25-year wooden nativity and was selected by a committee that included a senior cathedral dean. The display provoked immediate controversy among political and religious conservatives, with public criticism and the theft of a baby Jesus icon. The episode raises questions about the presence of explicitly Christian imagery in civic spaces and who gets to define it.

Read at Hyperallergic