A former nude artist is claiming in a new lawsuit that Museum of Modern Art staff “turned a blind eye” and did not do enough to stop patrons from groping his genitals while he was performing at an exhibition.
John Bonafede argues in the suit filed in Manhattan court Monday that his genitals were fondled by five different men on seven different occasions at an exhibit called “Marina Abramovich: The Artist is Present” in 2010.
Bonafede was working at the time as a “Re-Performer,” which meant recreating some of Abramovich’s previous works for a special exhibit.
His job was to stand completely still for 75 minutes, and stare forward at a woman staring back at him in a similar pose in a work entitled “Imponderabilia.”
As part of the exhibit, attendees were encouraged to squeeze between the two performers to enter the next gallery.
But on seven different occasions, Bonafede argues he was fondled in “eerily similar” ways, all by “older men,” according to the suit obtained by The Post.
In each case, it says, the man would turn sideways to face Bonafede, drop their hand and “fondle and/or grope” his genitals, “lingering for a moment before moving through into the next gallery room.”
One of the men allegedly assaulted him in direct view of a MOMA security guard, and another was “recorded live by a camera crew, which happened to be filming Plaintiff’s performance at that time,” the lawsuit states.
A third completed three different trips around the exhibit “nonconsensually groping Plaintiff’s genitals each time before he was finally stopped by MOMA security,” according to the suit.
“The only purpose of such sexual touching was to degrade or abuse Plaintiff, and to gratify the Attendee Perpetrator’s sexual desire,” the lawsuit states, claiming that the groping “presented a serious risk of physical injury to Plaintiff, including risk of causing injury to Plaintiff’s genitals and/or risk of sexually-transmitted infection.”
Bonafede claims he did not report the first assault to museum staff because he felt the museum and exhibit staff had adopted a “tough it out” attitude to deal with anything unexpected.
One performer was also fired on the exhibit’s first day for not staying completely still, and suggested to Bonafide he keep quiet to prevent the same thing from happening to him.
“As a result of the messaging he received during his MOMA-funded and MOMA-supervised training with Abramovic… Plaintiff was acculturated into a MOMA-sactioned communal belief system in which Re-Performers were expected to submit, silently and unwaveringly, to whatever conduct Attendee Performers might choose to engage in, including repeatedacts of sexual assault,” the lawsuit claims.
But the lawsuit says Bonafede alerted museum security to each of the following incidents, as other performers reported similar behavior — including one performer who told The Post at the time, “It can be a little sketchy.
“Sometimes, there’s that feeling like, ‘Oh, this is a little gross,’ and then it’s gone,” Matthew Rogers said.
Eventually, the museum acknowledged it was having a problem with people groping its models.
“We are well aware of the challenges posed by having nude performers in the galleries for this exhibition,” the museum said in a statement to The Post at the time.
“Any visitor who improperly touches or disturbs any of the performers is escorted from the museum by MoMA security.”
The museum also allegedly adopted a “signal system” to flag assaults, and created a handbook that outlined a protocol on how to handle the attendees after they acted inappropriately.
Yet it never put up any signs or gave verbal warnings to museum attendees to keep their hands to themselves while passing through the exhibit and museum staff refused to provide Bonafede with the identities of his alleged harassers so he could pursue charges, the lawsuit claims.
As a result of the gratuitous touching, the lawsuit claims Bonafede suffered “years of ‘garden variety’ emotional distress” and has caused his “mental health, body image and career to be significantly harmed.”
He has now filed the lawsuit under the New York Adult Survivors Act, and is seeking an indeterminate amount in damages.
The window to levy a complaint under the act expired last year, but the suit says Bonafede was granted an extension that was agreed upon before the window closed.
The Post has reached out to the Museum of Modern Art for comment.