Corinne Rondeau defends Andres Serrano's Piss Christ against censorship

In a text published on artpress.com, philosopher Corinne Rondeau analyzes the vandalism of Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" at the Collection Lambert in Avignon on April 17, 2011. Rondeau argues that the attack is not iconoclasm but a reaction against the title, which reduces the image to a single meaning. She describes the photograph as a crucifix submerged in a warm, golden liquid, its form suspended and ambiguous, and insists that the work is divided between image and title, resisting univocal interpretation. The censors, she claims, have succeeded in making the public see only shattered glass and hear only the provocative title, ignoring the actual visual experience. Rondeau compares this to René Magritte's "The Key of Dreams," where words and images do not match, and warns that reducing the artwork to a blasphemy destroys the aesthetic and political promise of art: a space where everyone can play with inclusions and exclusions. The text was written in response to the vandalism, which occurred during a display of Serrano's work at the Collection Lambert.