Six billboards in Bregenz, Austria designed by artist Anne Imhof and featuring the phrase ‘Wish You Were Gay’ have been vandalised. The billboards were designed in collaboration with the London-based agency Zak Group.
The German artist, whose show of the same title is currently showing at Kunsthaus Bregenz through 22 September, has called it an ‘act of violent aggression’.
‘The billboards serve as a space for public art and have been a museum tradition since 1997,’ Imhof wrote on Instagram. ‘Destroying them is not only an assault on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, and questioning people but also an assault on the community of Bregenz.’
She continues: ‘This attack on love, creativity, and freedom only serves as proof of this struggle, but this hate crime cannot take away our hope for a world free from homophobia and discrimination.’
Imhof has confirmed that the damaged billboards will be replaced.
Kunsthaus Bregenz has a tradition for its exhibitions of erecting artist-designed billboards on Brengenzer Straße and around the city. ‘This is a cowardly attack on art and our human rights. Homophobia has no place in our society,’ said its director Thomas Trummer.
Like much of western Europe in recent years, Austria has seen a rise in the far-right confirmed by the country’s Freedom Party winning out in the recent EU elections ahead of a national parliament election in Autumn.
