Debated sculpture opens today but in different venue in Turkey

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

The sculpture titled ‘Love Rain’ was removed from its original location without the permission of the artist and is now placed in a different location, Kuğulu Park. DHA photo

Mayor Mustafa Gül of Kemer, in the southern province of Antalya, has refused to move a sculpture back to its original location, after declaring it “pornographic,” despite a court order.

Zafer Sarı’s “Love Rain” sculpture, created in 2007, was removed from its original location in Çınarlı Crossroad by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) member Gül in 2009. A public uproar caused Kemer municipality to place the sculpture in the fountain in Kuğulu Park three months later.

Sarı’s lawyers filed two lawsuits against the removal of the sculpture and its placement in another place without the permission of the artist. The court decided the sculpture needed to be placed in its first location in its original concept.

Removed because of people’s reactions’
“We removed the sculpture in April 2009 from its original place,” said Gül. “We were called ‘the enemies of art and bigots’ at that time, but we did not respond to such defamations. Now we put the ‘Love Rain’ in one of the most beautiful places in Kemer and it will live there forever.”

Gül said the “Love Rain” sculpture would open within the scope of the “Welcome to Summer” events set to be held during Tourism Week.

According to Gül the sculpture should have been placed in Kuğulu Park from the start. “Putting the sculpture in Çınarlı Crossroad caused reactions and we removed it with the request of people. We have so far kept its electronic mechanisms in our depot. We will open it on Friday at 6 p.m.,” he said.

The sculpture was originally placed in Çınarlı Crossroad by former mayor Hasan Şeker, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).