henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) (11/10/89)
pinched from the new york times w/o permission: NEW YORK -- The National Endowment for the Arts has withdrawn its sponsorship of a New York City art show about AIDS that includes images of homosexual acts and criticizes public figures. It was the first such decision by the agency since a law was passed this fall that will curtail government financing of artwork considered obscene. John E. Frohnmayer, the endowment's new chairman, said he based his decision not on the works of art, some of which he said were in questionable taste, but on the show's catalog, which criticized Cardinal John O'Connor, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York; Rep. William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., and Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who led the fight this year against government financing of art they considered obscene. Frohnmayer made his remarks Wednesday in a statement in which he said he was withholding a $10,000 grant approved by the endowment in May to help finance a show called "Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing" at Artists Space, a non-profit gallery on West Broadway in lower Manhattan. The show, which is to open Nov. 16, cost $30,000 to mount. In a letter to the executive director of Artists Space, Susan Wyatt, dated Nov. 3 and made public Wednesday, Frohnmayer explained his actions. "Because of the recent criticism the endowment has come under, and the seriousness of Congress' directive, we must all work together to ensure that projects funded by the endowment do not violate either the spirit or the letter of the law," he said. "The message has been clearly and strongly conveyed to us that Congress means business. On this basis, I believe the endowment's funds may not be used to exhibit or publish this material." Ms. Wyatt said Wednesday: "I'm very saddened by this. Mr. Frohnmayer treated me with great respect, but he's going to have a severe problem now because he's sending out a message to each and every art institution around the country that they can't do anything that's essentially controversial." "This is setting a very dangerous precedent," she continued. "We did a show of eastern European art here last June, and I know what official art is all about, and I just hope we're not moving into that." Frohnmayer responded: "Clearly, that is not my position. I believe that political discourse ought to be in the political arena and not in a show sponsored by the endoment." The exhibition presents work by 23 painters, photographers and sculptors that includes some images of homosexual acts. The curator of the show was Nan Goldin, a Boston artist and photographer. "The point of the show is not sexuality, but AIDS and how it has affected a community," Ms. Wyatt said. "Obviously, sexuality is a topic that needs to be addressed when you're talking about AIDS. But loss, memorialization and spirituality are also part of the show." Frohnmayer said that when the endowment's peer panel considered the Artists Space application for this exhibition in February, no material had been selected for it. Since then, he said Wednesday, the endowment found in reviewing the material to be exhibited, "that a large portion of the content is political rather than artistic in nature." Frohnmayer said he asked Artists Space in his Nov. 3 letter to remove the endowment's name as a sponsor of the show and also to relinquish the endowment's $10,000 grant. Asked if he objected to any of the sexual images in the show, Frohnmayer replied: "Some of them were of questionable taste, but my overall objection was that between the time the panel approved the grant and the way the show developed, it turned into a political statement." "There are specific derogatory referenes in the show to Senator Helms, Congressman Dannemeyer and Cardinal O'Connor which make it political." Ms. Wyatt said the references are made in the catalog rather than with photographs in the show. "They are strong statements written by the photographer David Wojnarowicz, who has AIDS and who expresses his anger toward statements by these three individuals against safe sex." She declined to give quotations from the catalog. The catalogue, which cost $7,000, was partly underwritten by a $5,,000 grant from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Mapplethorpe was a New York City photographer who died of AIDS, and an exhibition of his works that was scheduled and then canceled at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington this summer fueled the problems over federal financing of art. "I disagree with that characterization of the show," Ms. Wyatt said of Frohnmayers comments. "I wholeheartedly believe in this show. It has not changed from art to politics. It is art." # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au>
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu (Gordon E. Banks) (11/11/89)
Are they charging admission to the show? If so, I'm sure the publicity this generates will more than make up for the lost $10000. I understand the Mapplethorpe show is a sellout whereever it goes now.