Cohen crows in Paris

13 September 2013 - 05:04 By ANDREA NAGEL
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Steven Cohen momentarily stole attention away from the Eiffel Tower when he appeared with a cockerel tied to his genitals
Steven Cohen momentarily stole attention away from the Eiffel Tower when he appeared with a cockerel tied to his genitals
Image: QUENTIN EVRARD

South African artist Steven Cohen, 51, was arrested for sexual exhibitionism in Paris this week during a performance in which he had a live rooster tied to his penis.

He stepped out of a car at Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel Tower at 9.30am on Tuesday dressed in a garter and tights.

With long red gloves and a red ribbon attaching the cockerel to his genitals, Cohen momentarily eclipsed the Eiffel Tower's touristic appeal as a crowd assembled to gawk and giggle at Cohen performing a chicken dance duet with the rooster.

Cohen pranced around in high heel platforms with feathers attached to his head and hands for 10 minutes before police arrested him and took him to jail.

He was released later that day.

He is required to appear in court on December 16.

Cohen's lawyer, Agnès Tricoire, told the daily Metro that Cohen ''wanted to express his personal situation, in which he divides his life between two countries, his native South Africa and France, where he currently lives," adding: ''His arrest is disgraceful: France is silencing its artists."

She did not say exactly what the cockerel was supposed to signify, but revealed its name as Frank.

Cohen was born in South Africa and lives in Lille, France.

His work draws attention to the marginalised of society, focusing on his own identity as a gay, Jewish man. One of his best-known performances is Chandelier, in which he is illuminated by a chandelier tutu and interacts with residents of a squatter camp in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Cohen's performance art piece Sphincterography: The Tour - Johannesburg (The Politics of an Arsehole) has been included in the Festival d'Automne at La Maison Rouge in Paris later this year.

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