The First Facility Management Blog

Last Friday, FacilityBlog featured a story about running toilets. Today, toilets are in the news once again, but this time, they are the subject of a legal controversy in Italy.

Here are the facts, presented by Eileen Jeng of fNews:

Two artists, Eleonora Chiari and Sandra Goldschmied, have created a toilet that flushes to the sound of Italy’s national anthem, according to BBC News Online. The toilet was on display at the Bolzano Museum of Modern Art in Northern Italy when it was impounded by the police.

The museum is currently fighting to get the installation piece back. A museum spokesperson was quoted on artinfo.net explaining that a right-wing political party complained to local authorities about the piece. Prosecutors said that the national anthem is a “national emblem, which should be protected and should never be open to ridicule.” Perhaps their interpretation is that as the toilet flushes to the national anthem, Italy is being ridiculed. It is as if Italy is going down the drain.

The defense attorney for the museum stated to the BBC that while the national anthem “does have patriotic and sentimental value, it is not a national symbol.” Thus, the ownership of the national anthem is one of the questions for the court. The Association of Italian Modern Art Museums supported the museum and “its professional authority.” Artinfo.net described the Museum as a victim of censorship.

Please rise.

According to Christian Fraser of the BBC, a ruling on the case was expected quickly, but because of the questions of patriotism it sparked, the work was removed from the museum and the artists were under investigation.The story broke back in October 2006, but no updates on the case or a final ruling could be found after an extensive online search.

Meanwhile, the controversy has inspired Bloggers across the Internet to pose some fairly serious questions about the concept of art, symbolism, and freedom of expression. Who owns the national anthem? And is it unpatriotic to play it in a context in which it could be ridiculed? A decree issued by the former Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi defined the national anthem as an emblem and the property of the state.

While these are not directly facility management issues, they could have an impact on any building that displays a corporate art collection. Should the collection be vetted for any offensive messages? Or should art be left uncensored, to evoke response and reaction?

You may now be seated.