> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Crimes of the Art - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/crimes-of-the-art-46/ - Published: 2016-01-19T21:28:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:58:47.000Z - Description: On this week’s art crime blotter: a performance artist faces charges for pooping on the Israeli flag, Le Corbusier chairs are stolen in India, and a graffiti artist sues singer Kiesza for featuring his murals in a music video. - Author: Benjamin Sutton - Tags: News, Art Crime, Crimes of the Art, Lawsuits, Le Corbusier, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1) ![Natali Cohen Vaxberg (screenshot via YouTube)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/01/crimes-art-poop-flag.jpg) Natali Cohen Vaxberg (screenshot via YouTube) [*Crimes of the Art*](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/crimes-of-the-art/) *is a weekly survey of artless criminals’ cultural misdeeds. Crimes are rated on a highly subjective scale from one “Scream” emoji — the equivalent of a vandal tagging the exterior of a local history museum in a remote part of the US — to five “Scream” emojis — the equivalent of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist.* ## Authorities Wipe Out Poop-Slinging Artist ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg) Performance artist Natali Cohen Vaxberg is expected to be [charged](http://www.timesofisrael.com/police-to-indict-artist-for-defecating-on-israeli-flag/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with five counts of desecrating the Israeli flag over a video she uploaded to the internet in 2014 in which she defecated on the country’s flag. The video, titled “[Shit Instead of Blood](https://vimeo.com/100127568?ref=hyperallergic.com),” shows Vaxberg in her bathroom defecating on the flags of various countries. **Verdict:** Even within the subgenre of [scatalogical art](http://hyperallergic.com/109237/wading-in-matthew-barneys-river-of-shit/), this video is *really* crappy. ## Stolen Corb Seats Could Spell Diplomatic Disaster ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-2.jpg) Thieves [stole](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Theft-of-furniture-designed-by-Le-Corbusier-at-Chandigarh-College-of-Arts/articleshow/50637952.cms?ref=hyperallergic.com) 15 chairs and one table designed by Le Corbusier from a storeroom at the Chandigarh College of Arts just days before the visit of French President François Hollande. While in the Indian city of Chandigarh, whose master plan Le Corbusier designed, Hollande will visit several sites associated with the legendary Swiss-French architect. **Verdict:** Franco-Indian relations may never recover. ## Unauthorized Graffiti Backdrop Not Cool, Kiesza ![Jamie Hef's murals in the backdrop of Kiesza's "Hideaway" video (screenshot via YouTube)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/01/crimes-art-jamie-hef-lawsuit.jpg) Jamie Hef’s murals in the backdrop of Kiesza’s “Hideaway” video (screenshot via YouTube) ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg) Graffiti artist Jamie Mitchel Kosse — better known as [Jamie Hef](https://www.instagram.com/jamiehef/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — is [suing](http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/01/13/graffiti-artist-slams-kiesza-over-music-video.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) singer Kiesza and the Universal Music Group for using several of his murals in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as backdrops for the pop star’s “[Hideaway](https://youtu.be/ESXgJ9-H-2U?ref=hyperallergic.com)” video without licensing the work. **Verdict:** Here’s hoping Universal does the right thing and pays Hef a hefty fee. ## Thieving Arsonists Strike Historic Church ![crimes-of-the-art-scream-3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/02/crimes-of-the-art-scream-3.jpg) Twelve artifacts [turned up missing](http://theartnewspaper.com/news/conservation/suspected-arson-at-fontainebleau-church/?ref=hyperallergic.com) after a fire at the Church of Saint-Louis in Fontainebleau, France, which was ruled to have been an act of arson. The lost objects, which were either destroyed in the fire or stolen, include a wooden sculpture of Mary and infant Jesus from the 14th century and the church’s main altar, from the 17th century. **Verdict:** The thieves better put that altar to good use and start praying.