Het Parool — Filming a dick is not art in my view, Kirac

By Lale Gül

Over the past few days there has been a great deal of controversy about Honeypot, a film by the artists’ collective Kirac, Keeping It Real Art Critics. Kirac is known for always rubbing people the wrong way, hurting them and causing a stir. There was even a protest march on Monday: masked demonstrators from the Geen Podium initiative protested against the glorification of rape culture, because disgraced artist Julian A. was welcomed at the film’s premiere on horseback while under suspicion of sexual abuse. On Twitter, though, the discussion mostly concerned the uncomfortable role in the film of Sid Lukkassen, the FVD philosopher and researcher at the European Parliament.

What happened was this: in the film, a ‘left-wing’ woman wants to find out what it feels like to have sex with a right-wing conservative man. On camera. Why on earth, you might ask, but anyway: Lukkassen volunteered, only to bitterly regret it during filming.

I haven’t seen the film, because watching a naked Lukkassen didn’t strike me as particularly interesting. Besides, the whole thing is rather too sad, knowing that Lukkassen has called numerous people in tears and has had to ‘go into hiding’ abroad out of shame. But I did spend a long time thinking about which position to take on this issue: is Kirac free to broadcast something because Lukkassen gave his consent beforehand, or does the film cross a line and humiliate anyone who might be in it, meaning that, ethically, it should never have been released? Difficult.

My head would choose the first, but my feelings the second, if I put myself in Lukkassen’s shoes. Imagine it had happened to me: would you still take my columns, appearances and books just as seriously? Almost every adult regularly goes to bed with someone, but the moment a camera is involved and the footage is shown publicly, your life and career can be over. I often recoil from moral judgments and the wagging finger that says ‘you mustn’t do this’, but this has such a profound impact on someone’s public image, ability to function and future existence. Nor does it serve an important purpose: in my view, filming a dick is not art.

If I were Kirac, I would no longer be able to look myself in the mirror. You are making someone look like a fool in a way you wouldn’t wish on anyone.