Nude artist sues MoMA for not protecting him from “groping”
An artist involved in the Marina Abramović exhibition The Artist Is Present is suing New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for their alleged failure to protect him from groping visitors.
John Bonafede was hired by the museum for the 2010 exhibition and tasked with standing precisely 18 inches away from another performer, who was also naked and stared at her for 75 minutes at a time.
Gallery visitors were encouraged to squeeze between them as they moved through the exhibition.
In a recently filed lawsuit, Bonafede claims that he was assaulted seven times by older men at the gallery, who would each “fondle and/or grope” his genitals when passing by him.
He also claimed the museum had no infrastructure in place to protect performers and offered no verbal or written warnings when viewers touched the nude artists performing, despite the fact they knew it was a “pervasive problem”.
Bonafede mentioned another performer was fired when they couldn’t stay completely still, so he didn’t raise concerns at the time because he feared losing his job, too.
However, he did alert security to six of the instances of alleged groping but could not pursue action beyond that as he was never given their details.
He is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial after “years of emotional distress” have negatively impacted his “mental health, body image and career.”
The lawsuit was filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which made it possible for victims of sexual violence to file a civil lawsuit even if the incident had expired outside the statute of limitations.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
