In Switzerland, a woman sits on the altar throne of RCC church for 3 hours

Bettina Filacanavo on the throne of an RCC church. Photo: kath.ch

On May 4, 2024, Zurich artist Bettina Filacanavo spent three consecutive hours sitting on the throne in the sanctuary of the Catholic Church of Don Bosco in Steinhausen, Switzerland.

According to her, sitting on the church throne should demonstrate protest against war, as well as "elevate the personality of the Virgin Mary", giving "the most popular figure in the Bible after Jesus Christ" a feminist touch.

According to her, sitting on the church throne should also reflect the fact that the position of women in the Catholic Church should change in the future. "That's why Mary feels better because I perform sitting," says Filacanavo.

She is convinced that "Mary herself, who has experienced all these sufferings – war, flight, loss of a child –  is part of my work as a woman of resistance, because she stands for all women who resist patriarchal power structures and resolutely and consciously oppose male violence."

Bettina Filacanavo wrapped herself in a blue sheet and silently sat on the church throne from 17:00 to 20:00, while "visitors strolled around the chapel or watched the performance from the benches."

"I don't want to provoke with this symbolic performance but want to show positive outcome," said the 50-year-old artist.

It is noteworthy that Bettina Filacanavo has been working in the humanitarian organization of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland for 15 years, however, she chose a Catholic church for her "performance".

Earlier, the UOJ wrote about an exhibition of men's underwear in a Catholic church in Venice.

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