Michael Jackson art show opens in Finland despite controversy

An exhibition of art inspired by Michael Jackson opened Tuesday in Helsinki with organisers insisting it was not a “celebration” of the singer, still dogged by abuse allegations a decade after his death. “Michael Jackson: On the Wall” brings together old and new works depicting the iconic pop star and his impact on popular culture, by artists including Andy Warhol, American photographer David LaChapelle and British potter Grayson Perry. The show of 90 works first hung in London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim. It then toured in Paris and Bonn before coming to Helsinki. The German and Finnish shows come after a new raft of allegations that Jackson groomed and sexually assaulted children, detailed in the 2018 documentary “Finding Neverland”. The exhibition will nevertheless run in the Finnish capital “as planned”, organisers said, with a text at the entrance acknowledging that “current conversations may have changed the way the exhibition is interprete