Wojnarowicz Censorship Organizing Meeting:
NYC, 12/5 at 3PM
If I were back on the east coast this weekend, I'd be at this meeting. In the interests of self-preservation of queer art and gay lives in all our wonderful beauty and manifestations of sexualized political expression, I am sharing the following crucial information:
STOP THE CENSORSHIP!
When he died in 1992, David Wojnarowicz, artist and writer with AIDS, left a body of work about the disease that remains unrivaled for its power and beauty.
On December 1, 2010, the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, celebrated World AIDS Day by capitulating to the demands of right-wing politicians and an anti-gay religions group and removing David's volcanic video rant, A Fire in My Belly, from an important exhibition about art and sexual difference, Hide/Seek.
Washington Post coverage is here and also here.
Join us to plan a response to the Smithsonian's cowardly act of self-censorship, a kick in the teeth to an important, eloquent artist.
ORGANIZING MEETING
Date: Sunday, December 5, 2010
Time: 3:00pm
Location: PARTICIPANT INC
Address: 253 E. Houston St, Near Norfolk
Subway: F train to Second Ave, Exit at First Ave
MORE INFORMATION
Contact: Hunter Reynolds
E-mail: hunterr5930@yahoo.com
(Join the mailing list.)
Phone: (212) 966-1091
Michael,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Seems like censorship was in the air for World AIDS day. Madison, Wisconsin's Overture Center For the Arts censored a photo exhibit done by 8 people living with HIV/AIDS.
I am attaching a link to a post I did about it:
http://wisconsinhiv.com/?p=16187
This post has generated quite a bit of talk, including two letters from Overture. Here is a quote from an Overture Center staffer trying to rationalize the censorship:
"...When most adults view the photograph, we experience something about the complexity of pain that Oren faces. As adults we may not understand the entire photograph but we have experience to contextualize the photograph. We do not know for sure how small children may experience or be influenced by the photo. We can see that it is obviously pill bottles in the location of the man’s penis. Children may connect the sickness associated with prescription pill bottles to the man’s genitals. I believe that it’s important not to give children any potential negative associations with their genitals or other peoples’ genitals...."
This aids phobic act of censorship in progressive Madison Wisconsin. what's next?.