Mexican Artist Alleges Plagiarism of Femicide Project
Mexican artist Elina Chauvet alleges that her long-running anti-femicide installation Zapatos Rojos (Red Shoes) (2009–) was reproduced in Bucharest on March 31 without her authorization or proper credit. Romanian news anchor Alessandra Stoicescu hosted a public intervention titled “Dragostea poartă pantofii roșii” outside the Romanian Athenaeum, tied to a panel on domestic and intimate violence and organized via her Shero platform with the Mereu Aproape Foundation, shortly after Romania’s parliament passed legislation officially defining femicide. Chauvet said the Bucharest event echoed her signature display of red shoes symbolizing victims of femicide or disappeared women and noted that Stoicescu had staged a similar action in 2018, after which Chauvet says she had to press for acknowledgment. On April 6, Chauvet posted that Zapatos Rojos is copyrighted and may be recreated only under her authorization and guidelines, and she publicly requested credit on social media posts about the March 31 event.
From This Briefing
This story was covered in Restitution Wins, Biennale Battles, and Art World Fallout