The Very Reverend Peter Bradley with Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Cyber Iconic Man (1996) at Sheffield Cathedral.
Photo credits: Andy Brown Courtesy Going Public

A sculpture by Jake and Dinos Chapman, featuring a man hanging upside down, naked and bleeding, has been installed in Sheffield Cathedral as part of “Going Public,” a city wide exhibition opening today in which five venues are exhibiting works from the collections of five reputed private collectors from the UK, Italy, Germany, and France.

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Photo: Courtesy Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin

The large piece by the still controversial Chapman brothers, entitled Cyber Iconic Man (1996), has been installed in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit of the Cathedral, where another 10 works loaned by uber-collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaundengo are also on display, including pieces by Maurizio Cattelan, Douglas Gordon, Goshka Macuga, and Susan Philipsz­.

The gory sculpture might seem provocative in such pious settings. But the Very Reverend Peter Bradley, dean of Sheffield Cathedral, sees it differently.

“A lot of classic religious art shows images of really rather frightening violence, [such as] the crucifixion,” he told the BBC. “But we don’t notice that because we don’t actually see it as violence. We see it purely as an illustration of a story. Some of these artworks invite us to reflect on violence, and violence in a religious context, in a new way, and that’s strong, certainly,” he explained.

Detail of Jake and Dinos Chapman’s Cyber Iconic Man (1996) at Sheffield Cathedral.
Photo credits: Andy Brown Courtesy Going Public

In fact, Dean Bradley had specifically asked for artworks that had “quite a punch,” according to the BBC, so that they wouldn’t be “overwhelmed by the building.”

Also, as part of “Going Public,” rarely-seen Marcel Duchamp works and archives, drawn from the collection of Egidio Marzona, are being exhibited at the art-deco Graves Gallery.

Marcel Duchamp, La Boite-en-valise, Serie B
Photo: Photo Marcus Schneid © Succession Marcel DuchampADAGP, Paris and DACS London, 2015. Courtesy Marzona Collection.

A survey of contemporary Chinese artists, drawn from the Dominique & Sylvain Levy’s dslcollection, can be seen at Site Gallery and the Sheffield Institute of the Arts gallery, and highlights from Nicolas Cattelain’s collection have gone on display at the Millennium Gallery.

“Every major European city has a publicly owned collection of visual art that has flourished as a direct result of individual philanthropic giving,” Mark Doyle and Sebastien Montabonel, initiators of the project, said in a statement. “As public funding continues to decline, the role of corporate giving and philanthropy has become ever more important for the future.”

On October 12, a summit in Sheffield will bring international art world figures together to debate the role of private philanthropy for the arts in the 21st century.

“Going Public: International Art Collectors in Sheffield” is on view at several venues across Sheffield from September 16 – December 12, 2015.

Related stories:

artnet News Top 200 Art Collectors Worldwide for 2015, Part One and Part Two

artnet Asks: Super Collector and Art Patron Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

Public Sculptures by Damien Hirst and Chapman Brothers Unveiled in Oslo