Katarina Stegnar's performance art poster #hatebetter shocks

Katarina is a performance artist in Slovenia, but her outdoor poster in Ljubljana advertising her upcomping piece #hatebetter, may have turned into another piece of performance art, as it has provoked reactions around the globe. Roni Kordiš spotted the ad when he was out for a stroll, and shared it on his website, and soon his photo spread like wildfire. 

On the web peoples reactions are very similar: Why is there a mostly naked woman being grabbed by many dark hands? What is the message here? Why the hashtag? Is this about gang rapes? Is this a comment on current European politics? Is this another Tom Ford ad? So many questions.


The OOH poster with the hashtag #hatebetter as seen in Slovenia

The hands are quite obviously covered in dark grease/makeup, and one of the hands on the right even reveals this as it hasn't been painted all the way down the arm. Katarina Stegnar will be performing her piece at the Festivalperformansa soon.  Not sure if 'blackface (on hands) is part of that piece but pages associated with the hashtag talks about racism, and so does the performance piece announcement.  

Who does my body belong to?

I am the mistress of my pleasure. I'm going to do it with my body, whatever I want, where I want and whoever I want.

I love my Slovenian boyfriend, whether it's black, yellow, white, red or MARVIIC.

AnonymousCoward's picture
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AnonymousCoward's picture

We are a group of British tourists. We saw this. We could not believe the extreme insensitivity. There are virtually no Black people in Slovenia and you make a poster looking like a woman is about to be sexually assaulted by s group of Black males. You are not an intelligent performance artist you are simply stupid.

Martin Van de Wardt Olde Riekerink's picture

You felt offended by the advert. Art is supposed to arouse people, which can be done in many ways.
The fact that your belief system has started to shake and schudder must tell you there is more to this. I for one am curious to what the message in her performance might be.

Adolf's picture

This is degenerate shlock not art.

MLK's picture

Art is subjective. Just because you don’t think it’s art doesn’t mean it’s not.

AnonymousCoward's picture

No, this is racist garbage trying to subconsciously say that black men are gang raping white women, so protect the white woman against them.

AnonymousCoward's picture

The fuck are you talking about. If you would read her announcement, its about her doing whatever she wants with her body whenever she wants.

Sagi420's picture

You didn't look closely did you? Nor did you read carefully. The men in the photo are white. They are painted black. They are not really black!

Edzzy's picture

Don't forget that hitler was an artist too..

Erynn's picture

Art isnt an excuse.

Not impressed's picture

There's nothing new or shocking about this. We have had fear mongering anti-black propaganda using white women as potential victims for over 100 years. Boring.

Amani's picture

Please stfu. Because I assure you, you arent black. So your interest simply shows the world that you dont care about the depiction this has as long as it doesnt shine you in a bad light.
You're selfish.

Anonymous 's picture

I'm black and I dont like the way it looks it means shit as far as the black community is concerned what about you are you black?if not stfu plz this dont concern you,would sux if that light came to you huh? Thought so....

Z's picture


John Wesley Gaines Jr's picture

Well, you’re obviously a person deemed white. You are protected by images like this, while I, as a person deemed black, am a suspect at first sight because of images like this.

Wildthang78's picture


Connie 's picture


Felgi Bean's picture

Lol there are "virtually no black people" in England either. But you guys do tend to treat Indians and Muslims like shit.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Did you not read the article? Or are you ignoring it so you can bitch about it?

Yugoslavian's picture

No, you moron. In common literature of this part of the world, Devil is Black. Can it be clearer now?

By the way, because you love UK multi-whatever values but you don't like Slovenian way of life, let's make a bet:
* take a girl, dress her provocative and let her walk the lovely multicultural communities in the UK
* take the same girl and let her walk the streets of Ljubljana, or Zagreb, Split, Zadar, wherever you want

In the second case, absolutely nothing will happen.
I deeply don't care if you call it racism, I call it freedom :D

Dabitch's picture

> this part of the world, Devil is Black

I appreciate the insight of how visual cues are interpreted in the local context, so thank you for that, as art is obviously not performed in a vacuum.

I only wish the comment thread would be a little less, shall we say, rude.

But that is to be expected with open comments.

Sonshyne 's picture

You have completely missed the message. You first reaction is that those hands belong to black me. Common misconception
Upon closer inspection the perpetrators are white.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Question is why covet those hands in black grease? I'm not one to racially profile everything, however, this as a black person suggests that we are seen as immoral beings, thugs, rapists. I call this ad RACIST.


Der!'s picture

I think t represents, white me do dirty deeds, black men blamed for!

I am ME's picture

That's how I took it as well...

AnonymousCoward's picture

Shes literally saying that it doesn't matter what color the hands are. If she wants them to touch her, then that's her choice. Everyone is taking it as if its a rape scene and I dont know why everyone jumped to that. Ever heard of a gang bang?

Trevor Edmond 's picture

i thought the same thing. As a black man i dont find this racist towards black people but moreso a message to people about who is actually to blame. especially when u see the obvious painted hand.

Sagi420's picture

Exactly, like that isn't new. White people have always gotten away with doing shit, then blaming it on blacks. There was actually a case not too long ago where a white man did just what her art kinda depicts. He committed a crime, painted himself black along with a very realistic black mask and was able to have the blame placed on some random black man who looked similar. And he's not the first or only case to do something like that.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Yes such as the white hands of the LAW #centralpark5 #emmitttill #travynmartin #whentheyseeus

Dream's picture

Who's to say they are even male hands?

Dabitch's picture

I was waiting for that one. Now I have bingo.

AnonymousCoward's picture

You can tell

Shyheim 's picture

Because they are obviously male hands

Vrbanvs's picture

To point out that no matter who does what, there's always one or more groups that will be blamed, while the guilty ones walk.
Stop, look ,think and you may figure something out. Till then, there's no need to show off your lack of comprehension. Marginalised groups are falsely accused on a regular basis, but stupid people like you are literally to blame for the poor state of the world. Darling.

XianBda's picture

Just no. This propagates hate, not start a dialogue. This is a horrible work of hatred towards black and brown people. It should not be in apublic space.

Pandanoia2119's picture

I think the post was supposed to represent the factor that now and even beforehand black men were being accused of raping white women when in actuality it was really white people raping the white women or something like that because in the picture you can clearly see that this hands are painted and that it's white underneath it does that on purpose and there has to be a reason for it

Sagi420's picture

Yup, how many times have we heard a story about a woman being raped, then blaming it on a black man?

sarasa's picture

the message is so clear, I'm shocked how people don't want to read it the right way.
I mean, if you feel disturbed or not sure at least google or search for the hashtag OMG is not so difficult.
"The regulation of female sexuality lies at the core of all patriarchal politics. Regardless of whether we are discussing the wearing of burkas, banning abortion or the demonization of female pleasure.
It ends now. No means no.
I will not allow my body to be exploited for any political agenda.
I am the mistress of my pleasure. I will do with my body as I please, where I please and with whomever I please.
I love my Slovenian boyfriend, whether he is black, yellow, white, red or all the colors of the rainbow."

AnonymousCoward's picture

This is some disrespectful and disgraceful mess!

AnonymousCoward's picture

Amen...and obviously this artist has no black people in her sphere of influence because they would have helped her to produce a work of art that would be provocative as she desire yet not divisive, demeaning and derogatory. Very sad piece of crap at this point...not art at all.

AnonymousCoward's picture

I get this piece and it is correct.

AnonymousCoward's picture

F the artistic expression of this ad. It's just something else they can use against us. We see what's wrong. But others will see fear. This just something else we have to spend time explaining.

Bitter Truth Show's picture

This is the white inferiority complex machine at work. You claim that this isn't about black men, yet the IMMEDIATE image that the subconscious picks up is 6 black men about to gang rape a white woman. Thus sending the the subconscious message that white women are under attack by black men, and that white men need to exert their anger righteously towards them, not the white woman. You think you're slick, but you're not.

raul franceschi's picture

This is racist shit, not art!!!!

Bailey 's picture

I don’t find this offensive. It is showing how black or brown skinned men was blamed for raping white women when really white men raped them and then blamed black or brown skinned men. You can see that their hands are white under the black and brown paint and parts of the arm is exposed. I wouldn’t say this artist was being racist.

Introspect's picture

The only issue I have with this work is it will be misinterpreted by many. But my interpretation is that we should stop falling for the tricks the media plays on us and start hating people that really deserve it. We are made to hate people different from us by misleading us. While the true criminals control us like puppets.

Hmm's picture

This was impressively uninformative

Katalin Szabo's picture

Before you do this piece of shit, check the statistic about sexual attack against white women! Most of them by NOT white males! So even you want to push down our throat it is not real, and the white males just blaming the blacks, spend time to check the fact!

Bruno W.  Medsta's picture

Esse é o problema da arte. Qualquer obra se torna espelho e sempre reflete o que sentimos e pensamos.
Essa obra pode qualquer coisa para pessoas diferentes. Ela é intrigante por isso. Não sabemos o queria... mas são tantas as perguntas de todos os tipos que acaba tornando-a em uma obra de arte fenomenal. A minha leitura sobre ela foi o abuso do corpo feminino representado pelo corpo feminino , pela grandes indústrias representada pelas mãos com graxa e relógios caros. Também acho que não é Black fake pela questão de mostrar que é um braço branco que está sujo.
O que dizer: INTRIGANTE.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Trash... white people need to stop spreading this kind of racist shit.

AnonymousCoward's picture

A sensational art piece using dangerous imagery of the black male assaulting a white woman, is irresponsible. Blackface (hands) be damned. The only people that would see this, and try to find some kind of "dignified" deeper meaning are those who are not brown, and don't LIVE IN BLACK SKIN. I'm not going to bring up the cultural REASONS this is irresponsible WORLD WIDE because, y'all already know. The artist has failed to understand what the hell she's doing. Or, she is an attention seeking asshat, pushing her own selfish agenda through the lens of our SENSATIONAL melanin.


Mandingo Intellect's picture

If the artwork is about her own agency as an artist then why not depict the female model as the 'aggressor' as the huntress? Surely with all the rhetoric that is going around about migration and identity politics people cannot be THAT obtuse as to claim that this is not plain sensationalism... As a person of colour, I am tired of such lazy and tone deaf arguments made as if every person that is going to view that image is going to interpret it the same way.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Even the white hand is painted black...wtf! Take this crap down. Its insulting. This art provokes rage not inspiration, but it did inspire me to know not all artist are smart.

European's picture

Fuck this racist shit. Keep your disturbing "art" aspirations to yourself

AnonymousCoward's picture

#EMMITTTIL this is racist and why most black men die or are jailed

