Last weekend, The New Yorker published an incredible story titled “The artist is holding valuable art hostage to protect Julian Assange“. Russian dissident and Putin critic Andrei Molodkin, who lives in exile in France, claims that 16 works by masters such as Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol were donated to his “Dead man’s switch” project. The works are said to be worth $45 million and Molodkin is threatening to destroy them with a corrosive substance if Assange, who is currently being questioned in London’s High Court, dies after possibly being extradited to the US!
However, Molodkin has refused to answer which works of art are concerned, only that they are to be stored in a 29-tonne vault. The reporter got to see that. Plot. Without better verification, many, including me, have a hard time swallowing the story and see Molodkin’s actions as a stunt, comparable to climate activists’ dubious attacks on famous works of art to gain attention for their cause.
“It’s not activism” however, Molodkin claimed in the Guardian the other day, arguing that neither he nor the donors believe Assange will die in prison. At the same time, he claims to have hired professional hostage negotiators in an attempt to open a dialogue with the White House. No answer, of course.
Assange’s wife Stella, who claims to have seen evidence that the CIA during Trump’s presidency inquired about alternative ways to liquidate the Wikileaks founder, is on board. In The New Yorker, she compares “Dead man’s switch” to a human shield. An “artificial shield”. And the gallerist in Milan who claims to have donated the Picasso work believes that “it is more relevant for the world to have an Assange than an extra Picasso”.
He has a point. The only problem is that neither the CIA nor Trump, who may soon be back as President of the United States, distinguished themselves as passionate art lovers.
Read more lyrics by Birgitta Rubin.