John Killacky: "Censorship . . . at the Smithsonian", December 17, 2010

John Killacky: Censorship alive and well at the Smithsonian

December 17, 2010

Editor’s note: This op-ed is by John R. Killacky, the new CEO/Executive Director of Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont.

Accessed from VtDigger.org on December 17, 2010

I visited the National Portrait Gallery’s Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibition featuring painting, drawing, photography, installation, and media images of Lesbian and Gay identity. Missing was David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly video excerpt which museum director Martin Sullivan had pulled when assailed by William Donohue of the Catholic League and conservative Republican Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor. They deemed it inappropriate for a federal institution; none had seen the show.

Here we go again…. Twenty years ago, the right wing waved its lighting rod of hysteria around National Endowment for the Arts support of cinema mavericks Marlon Riggs, Cheryl Dunye, Todd Haynes, and others, as well as San Francisco’s Frameline LGBT festival. The mere thought of reel-ness became fundraising fodder for indignant malformed outrage. Media makers were not the only targets in the Culture Wars of the 1990s; political artists of all disciplines were vilified and institutions supporting their work terrorized. Conservative critics were very clear about their moral imperative.

More disturbing than the Smithsonian’s decision to remove this work of art is the cause: unwarranted and uninformed censorship from politicians and other public figures, many of whom, by their own admission, have seen neither the exhibition as a whole or this specific work.

Museums did not support each other in almost every instance: Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Chris Ofili. Other directors ran for cover when colleagues came under fire, burying their heads in sand, until they, too, were challenged. Regrettably, regional theaters did not support performance artists under fire – - Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, John Fleck, and Tim Miller – - until the Manhattan Theater Club’s Corpus Christi firestorm or the various protests accompanying Angels in America and The Laramie Project sprung up across the country.

Arts organizations facing controversy felt isolated from local, regional, and national colleagues. In hindsight, it seems the art world got tripped up and confused, supporting only work we liked, but ‘like’ should be criteria at home for above the couch or in the iPod. Freedom of expression is a more precious commodity than taste.

In the Smithsonian’s National Portrait galleries, I remembered this was not the first time Wojnarowicz’s work had drawn fire. In 1989, Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association maligned his art. However, Wojnarowicz was fierce. He fought back, successfully suing Wildmon for distortion. But he is no longer here to counter attack; Wojnarowicz died from AIDS at age 37 in 1992. Who will fight today?

Laudably, the Association of Art Museum Directors lambasted the removal of his film:

It is extremely regrettable that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, a major American art museum with a long history of public service in the arts, has been pressured into removing a work of art from its exhibition “Hide/Seek.”

More disturbing than the Smithsonian’s decision to remove this work of art is the cause: unwarranted and uninformed censorship from politicians and other public figures, many of whom, by their own admission, have seen neither the exhibition as a whole or this specific work.

The AAMD believes that freedom of expression is essential to the health and welfare of our communities and our nation. In this case, that takes the form of the rights and opportunities of art museums to present works of art that express different points of view.

Discouraging the exchange of ideas undermines the principles of freedom of expression, plurality and tolerance on which our nation was founded. This includes the forcible withdrawal of a work of art from within an exhibition—and the threatening of an institution’s funding sources.

At the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, I cannot guarantee you and your family will like everything you attend. However, my hope is that we can offer something for everyone, acknowledging all offerings cannot be pleasing to everyone. In our differences, our shared humanity is ultimately revealed and illuminated. Artists and arts organizations often create a safe space for unsafe ideas – a very necessary role in our profane world.

As I now work with the staff, board, and community to steward this incredible community asset, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, I invite all into this exquisite aesthetic dialogue ahead as we seek together to lead more expressive lives for ourselves and for generations to come.

Posted in Opinion | Tagged A fire in my belly, Censorship, David Wojnarowicz, John Killacky, National Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery’s Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, Smithsonian

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