LA’s iconic Hollywood sign turned into a bizarre art display after it was hijacked by an artist who mummified a man directly to the famous landmark.
Artist Sabine Tautou conducted the performance, titled “Public Figure, 2026,” for about 25 minutes beginning at 10 a.m. Friday.
Police ended up detaining Tautou and she was cited for trespassing.
Tautou’s choice to place a nearly naked man tied up to the Hollywood Sign was meant to create “a compelling physical and ideological juxtaposition,” according to a news release about the performance.
The Hollywood Sign is supposed to represent a “symbol of aspiration and fame,” while the man’s mummification that his face “restricts movement and erases identity.”
Tautou “renders the man anonymous and vulnerable in stark contrast to the monument to celebrity that is the Hollywood Sign,” according to the presser.
Tautou describes herself as a “notorious fetish professional and fantasy curator,” on her website.
“This is far more than a profession to me,” she says. “I’m a psychosexual pervert with an obsessive fascination for power change, psychological kink, ritual, control, vulnerability, and beautifully deviant intimacy. What I create is deeply personal to me, an evolving art form I am devoted to perfecting.”
Some of themes Tautou is interested in exploring in her art include humiliation, objectification and feminization.
