- John Bonafede filed lawsuit against the Museum of Modern Art on Monday
An artist who took part in an exhibition where he stood naked in front of a nude woman while visitors squeezed passed them at New York’s Museum of Modern Art is suing the institution after he was allegedly groped seven times during the exhibit.
John Bonafede filed the lawsuit against the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Monday – 14 years after he took part in Marina Abramovic’s performance piece at the iconic institution.
Bonafede claims that MoMa failed to tell patrons to not touch nude performers involved in the 2010 exhibit, which appeared more recently at the Royal Academy of Arts’ in London last year.
As a result, the nude artist claims that he was groped seven times by five older men while performing the piece called Imponderabilia – where Bonafede stood naked 18 inches from a nude woman while New Yorkers squeezed passed them.
Bonafide said the assaults were ‘eerily similar’, with each older man turning to face the artist before dropping their hand and ‘fondling and groping’ his genitalia, ‘lingering for a moment before moving through into the next gallery room’.
John Bonafede (pictured) filed the lawsuit against the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Monday – 14 years after he took part in Marina Abramovic’s performance piece at the iconic institution
Bonafede claims that MoMa failed to tell patrons to not touch nude performers involved in the 2010 exhibit, which appeared more recently at the Royal Academy of Arts’ in London last year (pictured)
In the lawsuit, filed in New York state court on Monday, Bonfede accused MoMA of failing ‘to take reasonable corrective action’ by issuing verbal or written warnings to patrons not to touch the performers.
Bonafide, who is seeking unspecified damages in a jury trial, claimed he did not report the first assault but later told museum security staff, who removed the men from the exhibit.
The nude artist, who had to stand still for 75 minutes while visitors squeezed past him, claims one of the men was a MoMA corporate member whose membership was revoked after he groped Bonafide.
Bonafide said the museum did not tell him the identity of the men who groped and assaulted him which meant he couldn’t pursue charges against them.
The nude artist said he had not reported the first assault to the museum, claiming the organisers had pushed a ‘tough it out’ culture if unexpected things had occurred during a performance.
Bonafide also pointed to how another performer was fired on the exhibit’s first day for not staying still, with the lawsuit suggesting he had initially kept quiet to prevent the same happening to him.
But now, after 14 years, the artist is suing the museum for the ‘years of emotional distress’ and the damage done to his ‘mental health, body image and career’.