Artist Calls on Manifesta 16 to Remove Installation, Alleging Plagarism
Bochum-based artist Dorothee Bielfeld has asked Manifesta 16 to remove Nasan Tur’s installation “Elevation,” shown in Essen’s St. Gertrud Church, alleging it plagiarizes her 2010 work “Aufrichten (Raising Up)” made for Ruhr.2010. Tur’s work uses reclaimed church pews installed upright on their sides and engraved with anonymous public submissions, while Bielfeld’s earlier project in Hamburg’s Christ-König-Kirche used 29 upright pews and a participatory element where visitors deposited written thoughts into wall-embedded pipes. Manifesta 16 said the works have only “superficial” visual similarities and that curators Leonie Herweg and René Block deemed Tur’s project artistically independent; Tur called the allegations “false and baseless” and said he has retained a lawyer. Manifesta 16 opened on 21 June across Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, and Bochum and runs through 4 October, with 12 historic churches hosting site-specific installations.
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This story was covered in Museum Feuds, Funding Frenzies, and Market Heat