Organisers of the first Italian exhibition dedicated to controversial French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed said the show may not go ahead in the wake of protests over animal cruelty depicted in the works.
The show had been due to open Wednesday at the prestigious Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin but organisers received complaints about a video installation entitled Don't Trust Me, which documents the practices of butchers in the Mexican countryside.
Six television screens show video images of six tethered animals - a sheep, a pig, an ox, a horse, a goat and a doe - being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer.
When the show opened at a San Francisco gallery last year it was shut down within four days after Abdessemed and gallery staff received death threats from activists describing the installation as ''animal snuff videos''.
The Turin foundation's president, Patrizia Sandretto, said she had decided to postpone the opening of the Italian show amid safety concerns.
''I don't want my collaborators or visitors to run any risks,'' Sandretto said.
''I believe strongly in what I do, in contemporary art and in its value, but I don't want to upset anyone. I hope to be able to open this show, which is actually a strong denunciation of the violence that exists in the world, but I'm ready to take a step back,'' she said.
New-York based Abdessemed, 37, has a reputation as an 'enfant terrible' in the art world, where he is notorious for shocking works that often break sexual, religious and political taboos.
Adel Abdessemed - The Wings of God was due to run at the gallery from Wednesday until May 18.
