The city of Vienna is taking a different approach to art censorship and has turned to the online platform OnlyFans to put its most “explicit” artworks on full display.
The Austrian capital’s tourist board is now showing art from four of Vienna’s most revered museums on the platform, in response to blocking some art content against social media standards.
Some of Austria’s museums, including the Albertina Museum and the Leopold Museum, have recently been faced with problems publishing their artwork on social accounts — resulting in the censorship of some art pieces.
In July, the Albertina Museum’s Tiktok account was suspended—and later blocked—for displaying works by Japanese artist and photographer Nobuyoshi Araki that showed a partially obscured chest.
In 2019, Instagram said a painting by legendary Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens violated its community guidelines.
The capital’s tourist board said that Vienna is home to “some of the most famous artists in the world, whose works surpassed the limits of what was considered acceptable in art and society at the time, so it’s no surprise to learn that some of the his works of art fell into the hands of censors more than 100 years ago.”
The tourist board also said that “Vienna and its art institutions are among the victims of this new wave of modesty”, and said that’s why they decided to put “world-famous ‘explicit’ artwork from the capital on Onlyfans.
Any subscriber to the account will receive a free Vienna City Card or a free ticket to any of the featured museums, where the city’s tourist board said that “uncensored works of art in question can be seen in the flesh.”