hello and welcome to news from arts and culture i'm karen homestead and today will focus our lands on the fact that not all that glitters is gold. the golden pharaoh to it uncommon also known as king topped comes to paris a major immersive exhibition of his treasures includes over one hundred fifty original items from two ten commons to sixty of which have left egypt for the first time. and rebecca horn is germany's gone dumb of performance and installation art is famous for her explorations of body extensions and machines and turns seventy five on sunday and take a look back at her career. an exhibition that

looks at the influence of late pop star michael jackson on art and on other artists has opened in bonn and the buddhist queens tyler that's hosting it is having to justify the decision to go ahead with it and the show opens just weeks after the h.b.o. documentary leaving neverland made new allegations of jackson's alleged sexual. abuse of children forcing us to consider the king of pop in a new light. who was this man who millions of fans still hail as the king of pop this exhibition portrays michael jackson through the work of more than forty contemporary artists they include some well known works like these portraits by andy warhol but should the singer still be given center stage in light of the most recent accusations of sexual abuse this exhibition is controversial. we have enough so we have you developed an exhibition which explores michael jackson as a cultural phenomenon naturally jackson's personality is also included musical

ultimately we're showing a media cultural history here but we do take the criticism seriously. there have been previous allegations of child sexual abuse by michael jackson in two thousand and five he faced charges in court but now a new documentary tells the story of two men who allege they were molested by the late pop star jackson died in two thousand and nine so the exhibition in bonn has been slightly modified and the gallery is offering additional information artist paul mccarthy a sculpture portraying jackson and his pet chimpanzee now appears in a somewhat different light as he said really hard because it is a little unsettling to see how the michael jackson figure has a monkey sitting on his lap so there is a relationship depicted and in light of the new allegations this could be seen in a new way. the exhibition organizers did not want to put jackson on a pedestal but they do want to show the huge influence the artist had on an entire

generation of fans through his music and his style. so the man who initially curated this portrait collection never considered canceling the exhibition. it probably won't be another figure like tops someone who achieved such worldwide recognition that meant so many different things to so many different people even the way he transformed physically or all of the ongoing. about his life and probably the reality is we may never know we may never know the truth musical genius or monster the exhibition michael jackson on the wall polarizes audiences just as much as the one time king of pop did in his lifetime. and joining me is my colleague scott rockstro thanks for coming in scott this is so interesting because obviously this exhibition was shown first at the national portrait gallery in london last year then went on to paris and that

was of course before anyone had ever even seen the leaving neverland which premiered just now in january now there was practically no mention no reference to any of these sexual abuse allegations at the time even though they had been around obviously for a very long time as is all this finger pointing at the museum and beyond just a bit misplaced yeah i think so i mean i don't think you can blame the museum that it's opening the u.s. this exhibit now at a time where these new allegations of a made public and that's what everyone's talking about and they've made the argument i think it's a justify one that this isn't an exhibit praising or celebrating michael jackson and it's not really even about a right it's about his it's not even about his work it's about the sort of impact that he has had that michael jackson's had on pop culture and and that impact of course is undeniable i mean whatever you think about what do you think the man has

or hasn't done his impact on our popular culture has been enormous and i think i think it's actually a great thing that the the organizers of this exhibit have said we want to discuss this we want people to think about these new allegations and look at this exhibit. in that light and i do and so we have that discussion as opposed to trying to ban or boycott it you know why has this film had such an impact now it's interesting because the film of finding neverland or levy. neverland it doesn't bring up any really new allegations these two men are going public for the first time in this way but it isn't they don't provide any new evidence what they do in the what the film is very very powerful because of it is it's a very emotional portrait of these two these two men and the way they expose themselves when they talk about these allegations of being sexually abused by michael jackson when they were children it's very very emotional i think that

emotion is what's new about this and and what gives the film so much power makes it so difficult for people to argue against it of course i have to say the jackson family has denied all the allegations and then the process of suing h.b.o. who made the movie so many people are questioning whether they can even be a fan of michael jackson's music anymore you know radio stations are taking his music off the air is this the way to go i mean how do we navigate this as fans as fans of cultural legacy yes really the big question is can you separate the art from the artist and i don't i think it's i think it's difficult. i think it's interesting we're having this discussion now and i wouldn't ever tell anyone you know don't listen to michael jackson music but maybe it's interesting to think of who is the man behind the music who who was the artist that created this ad and maybe that will impact the way you think about the art itself i think that's an interesting question to to to pose and it's an interesting discussion that should be had we've seen just quickly we've seen a real change in the relationship with artists and idols or even our expectations

on the recent times what is your take on why that has happened i think it's called the selfish generation but i think it's something that now instead of just will it wanting to look at the art we want to understand and know the artists we want know what they're eating we want to know what they're doing and we want to their life to be authentic in the collection you know we want to do everything about them and we want their their own lives to be authentic reflection of their r. and i think that's very complicated of course but i think is an interesting discussion to have and i think. this exhibit now and looking at michael jackson both his life and legacy is quite compelling and i think it's a discussion that maybe it makes it a bit harder to listen to thriller but maybe that's something we should be doing michael jackson on the wall at the barn and on its way to finland in the summer so we might hear more about this got roxboro thanks for those insights. as my eyes grew accustomed to the light details of the room within emerged slowly from the

mist strange animals statues and gold everywhere the glint of gold and that's how british archaeologist howard carter described his discovery in the tomb of the egyptian king to a time common in november nine hundred twenty two and in the lead up to the cent ten or a of that landmark discovery a traveling exhibition of tots treasures opened saturday in paris. what's on show in paris is quite spectacular the atmosphere calls to mind the silence of the grave and a sense of eternity the treasures of the pharaoh have been carefully arranged in the dark blue room only the audio track of the exhibition disturbs just a bit the eternal rest of to turn common the young pharaoh who was crowned king at the age of nine and died just ten years later a likeness of tutankhamun on a black panther many of the items are being shown in europe for the very first time . it is an icon for egyptians but also for the whole world view often people who

are the best known far oh is ninety percent of the time the answer is. many other tombs were found and plundered shortly after the reign of the pharaohs and it to tutankhamen's tomb seemed lost for centuries until a young boy happened to stumble over a buried step from there archaeologists dug through to the most famous burial chamber the objects they found there are of breathtaking beauty and precise symmetry they. symbolize the desire for harmony serenity wealth and good fortune now more than three thousand years after they were created they can be admired by millions. rebecca horan is an artist whose hard to define her interests include fields like alchemy surrealism mechanical invention and much of her art over her long career has focused on the female body and how it can be transformed or her modes of expression are equally varied and her impressive body of work mirrors

a life that's divide defined by the creative process best to just let it do its work. rebecca holden gained worldwide recognition with her pencil performance at the documentary a contemporary art exhibition in. life to inanimate objects for her concert for anarchy in one thousand nine hundred she hung a grand piano upside down at the tate gallery in london. is full of surprises and has won many major awards. was the first woman to receive the prestigious kaiser ring. and in twenty turn she won the premium imperial. kiss of rhinoceros was one of her most electrifying works visitors were wont to keep the distance to the high voltage involved. film

busters bedroom featured hollywood star jones dean chaplin an out of control wheelchair and a dancing fork it's an all march to silent film legend buster keaton. ninety nine she's work the gallery in berlin involved machines that pump poisonous mercury across. and through a network of meth through the veins. in two thousand and six there was a major retrospective of the artist's works at the martin group in berlin. created the installation the universe in a pearl for the show. she calls it a necessary confrontation with life and death.

and the craft it's an energy that i have to resolve so i can begin to work on new things so i can free myself up so that i can as the dalai lama puts it so well get back to the holy emptiness so i can then create something new being a principle for more than fifty years rebecca holmes works of wonder have taken on an extraordinary journey of discovery. and many happy returns for rebecca who are only worth seventy seventh birthday well that brings us to the end of this edition of arts and culture don't forget though that you can find more culture anytime on our website so do pay us a visit there and until we meet again all the best for me and my culture team here in berlin by for.

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