In Andrei Molodkin's "Catholic Blood" exhibition, freshly donated human blood from a pharmaceutical refrigerator is pumped through a replica of the rose window adorning the façade of the British Houses of Parliament.

In an adjoining room in Londonderry art gallery is a similar acrylic sculpture with a replica of the rose window at Westminster Abbey.

Molodkin, who sees the rose windows as Protestant symbols, created the sculptures specifically for the context of Derry and Northern Ireland.

He describes his works as a commentary on the Catholic Relief Act of 1829 and a clause of the British constitution that forbids a member of Parliament who is a Catholic from advising the sovereign on ecclesiastical matters.

The artist says this implies that no British prime minister could ever be Catholic — an interpretation disputed by an expert in constitutional affairs, Dr Bob Morris of University College London.

"Yes, but there have been no Catholic prime ministers," Molodkin responds. "Perhaps when we talk about it, we will get one."

Molodkin, who describes himself as a utopian thinker, formerly served in the Soviet Army, delivering oil and transporting missiles in Siberia.

During this time he began sketching with military-issue ballpoint pens. Now he still uses ballpoint pens to make precise drawings on gigantic canvases.

His work has been exhibited in several major art museums in Europe and the United States, and in 2009 he represented his country in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Sources:

BBC

Demotix

Derry-Londonderry

Image: BY Gallery

A 30 year old man was arrested by police in connection with the discovery.

Several families were evacuated overnight until the all-clear was given. Residents denounced those responsible for storing bombs in a densely populated civilian area.

"Whoever left it there, would they have left it beside their own children?" said Paddy McDaid, who feared that his 9-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter could have been wounded or killed by any premature explosion. The bombs were found four doors away from his own, with the building's main gas pipe running in between.

Gerry Murray, a 78-year-old disabled retiree who was evacuated with his wife, said the various IRA splinter gangs deserved no support from the Irish nationalist majority in the city.

"I'm angry and I think a lot of other people will be angry too," he said.

The city's police commander, Chief Inspector Garry Eaton, said their choice of location to store bombs demonstrated "a callous and outrageous disregard for the safety of the community. We're lucky this morning that we're not dealing with serious injuries or deaths."

Sinn Fein, the political party that grew out of the Provisional IRA and today represents most of Northern Ireland's Irish nationalists in a coalition government with the British Protestant majority, denounced the Londonderry bombers as unhinged from reality.

"It's absolutely ridiculous that in this day and age people have to put up with the stress and upset this has caused," said Mickey Cooper, a Londonderry city councilman for Sinn Fein, after he visited the evacuees at the gym. "There is no justification for these activities in the political climate in which we now live."

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