[7] Art writer Anna Miles noted in Artforum that Murphy’s inclusion of the Virgin in a Condom in Pictura Britannica signalled that the exhibition would not be a conventional look at the YBAs with whom Kovats had been associated.
[13] Two works proved controversial; Tania Kovats’s Virgin in a Condom and Sam Taylor-Wood's Wrecked (1996), a photographic version of Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco Last Supper featuring a bare-breasted woman as the Christ figure.
[14] Within days of opening, Te Papa had received over 40 letters complaining about Virgin in a Condom,[15] the display case was vandalized twice, and a visitor host assaulted.
[15] Despite the complaints Te Papa insisted that the work remain on display with Chief executive Cheryl Sotheran explaining, ‘We have to be, as far as possible, clear of censorship issues of that sort and while this is an extremely sensitive and emotional subject, the museum has to be available for the expression of divergent and controversial views.’[17] Te Papa’s curator of contemporary art Ian Wedde added, ‘I thought a controversial contemporary exhibition early in the museum's agenda would be good because that's what we have to be’[18] As Te Papa’s position on Virgin in a Condom was based on the question of free speech,[19] Christian Heritage Party leader Graham Capill was prompted to comment that this was at odds with the way the museum protected Mãori spiritual ideas.
On 14 March there was a prayer vigil of 1,000 protesters and an Evening Post poll of 4,473 people revealed that 80.5 percent believed that Virgin in a condom and Wrecked works should be removed.
[22] National Party MP, John Banks and author Denzil Meuli requested a prosecution for blasphemous libel under the Crimes Act, but the Solicitor General refused the case citing ‘the principle of freedom of expression'.