Austria furore over sex posters with Bush, Chirac, Queen

VIENNA (Reuters) - Spoof posters depicting the Queen having sex with the U.S. and French presidents and displayed across Vienna are causing embarrassment just days ahead of Austria's taking over the EU presidency.


The images showed two naked female models wearing masks of President George W. Bush and the Queen, and a male model with a President Jacques Chirac mask, positioned as if they were having sex.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel appealed to the artists to withdraw the images, according to a spokeswoman quoted by the APA news agency.

Part of a series called "euroPART" and created by artists from all 25 member countries of the European Union, the posters were meant to "reflect on the different social, historical and political developements in Europe", said art project 25peaces, which commissioned the posters.

25peaces received 1 million euros ($1.2 million) of funding from the Austrian government for the works.

But the project, 150 images only three of which had sexual overtones, caused uproar in the media and among politicians.

The tabloid Kronen-Zeitung, read by half of Austria's population, called for immediate removal of the "porno posters" from 400 billboards in prominent places across the city.

Austria is due to take over the revolving EU presidency for six months on January 1. The poster series is supposed to be shown until the end of January.