The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts in Rijeka (MMSU) said on Wednesday that an installation artwork with a red star, erected on the top of a high-rise building in Rijeka on 20 September, was removed on 4 October, and workers hired for the erection and removal of the installation requested anonymity.

The museum emphasised that the artwork installation by author Nemanja Cvijanovic had been put on display only temporarily and that the removal was conducted without the presence of the media, as requested by workers hired to erect and put down the installation.

This statement ensued as the museum’s response to an article in the Rijeka-based newspaper “Novi List” that claimed that the red star installation had been removed in secrecy.

The museum recalls that the artwork had been installed without the presence of the media and that upon the completion of the installation, a lengthy press release had been sent to media outlets about the event as well as about the symbols which the installation wanted to show and about the author of the installation.

The press release also included official photographs of the event, the museum said.

The museum also notes that a Novi List photo-journalist had appeared at the top of the building when the installation was being removed, and he was explicitly requested to erase the photos he had taken and that those photos should not be published.

However, the daily newspaper ignored the request and it also published “fake news” that the installation had been erected and removed in secrecy, the museum says.

The institution also accuses the newspaper of violating the rights to privacy of persons who explicitly insisted on their privacy and whose role in this installation is of no interest to the general public.

Novi List explains that its photo-journalist had heard from a citizen in Rijeka that the red star installation was being removed and he then went there to cover the event. After he took photos of Nemanja Cvijanovic and workers, they demanded that he erased those photos, he however declined their request. They have been published by the daily, with the faces of the workers concerned being blurred.