Jesus artwork sparks controversy

CITY leaders today defended their decision to host an exhibition where a sculpture of the head of Jesus will be publicly burned, and insisted it was a celebration of Christianity.

• David Mach with a previous work

Tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money is to be spent on the city council-owned City Art Centre hosting an event by celebrated artist David Mach that will culminate in matchstick sculptures of Jesus and the Devil being set alight in Market Street, outside the venue.

The controversial burning, to take place near the end of the exhibition that runs for ten weeks from the end of July, has sparked condemnation from the Catholic Church and umbrella Christian body The Christian Institute while a dozen complaints have been lodged with the city's museum service.

Individual councillors have also been contacted by constituents who are concerned about the council hosting the event.

City leaders today insisted that the meaning of the event had been misunderstood and that it was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible

• Will you be going along to see David Mach's burning Jesus statue?Vote here

Councillor Ron Cairns, vice-convener of the council's culture and leisure committee, said: "David sees the burning as an act of creation not an act of destruction.

"The heads are not destroyed. The burning of the heads changes the state of the pieces and our perception of them. In an instant they are transformed from brightly coloured pop artworks to works which have an aged and consequently more 'serious' appearance.

"It is in this state that they will be then displayed in the gallery. It is in this context that the sculptures produced for this exhibition will be set alight - it is not the artist's intention to make an anti-Christian statement."

One of the display floors will include verses and passages from the King James Bible printed on its walls, while some of the earliest bibles in Scotland will be on show.

Mach, who is best known in Scotland for the Big Heids sculptures on the M8, has spent months creating busts of Jesus and the Devil out of matchsticks, which will be set alight outside the Market Street venue.

The Fife-born artist will move his entire London studio to the City Art Centre during the exhibition so that visitors can watch him complete his work.

Cllr Cairns said: "From the outset of our discussions with the artist, he has made it clear that it is not his intention to be disrespectful to the Bible. Indeed, as the exhibition planning progressed, he was the one to suggest that we devote one gallery of the City Art Centre to the biblical text."

It will cost the council around 115,000 to stage the exhibition, although it is thought that income from tickets and retail sales will reduce the actual cost to 17,500.

Frank Little, the council's museums manager, said: "It really is a celebration of the significance of this publication. It is respectful and quite useful in terms of the debate about world religions. It will be a major landmark exhibition for the City Art Centre."