Terrorism As 'Art'

Artist Apologizes For Saying WTC Attack 'Visually Stunning,' Like Artwork

LONDON, Sept. 19, 2002 | by Bootie Cosgrove-Mather

(AP)  A British artist apologized Thursday for saying the suicide attackers who brought down the World Trade Center deserved "congratulating."

"As a human being and artist living in the civilized world, I value human life above all else and abhor all acts of terrorism and murder," Damien Hirst said in a statement released by his company, Science Ltd.

In a video essay for BBC News Online last week, Hirst said the attack on the Trade Center was "visually stunning" and "kind of like an artwork in its own right."

"You've got to hand it to them on some level because they've achieved something which nobody would have ever have thought possible, especially to a country as big as America," Hirst told BBC Online.

"So on one level they kind of need congratulating, which a lot of people shy away from, which is a very dangerous thing," he said.

In his statement Thursday, Hirst said: "I apologize unreservedly for any upset I have caused, particularly to the families of the victims of the events on that terrible day. I in no way condone terrorism of any kind and I deeply regret any offense caused by the misrepresentation of my thoughts and feelings."

Hirst, considered one of Britain's best young artists, is perhaps best known for cutting a calf in half and floating it in a tank of formaldehyde.

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