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    Rothfield Intro

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    29 views6 pages

    Rothfield Intro

    Uploaded by

    Evan Quenlin
    Rothfield Intro

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 6
    Introduction The Interests in “Sensation” Tos the muses ee spec ght wer aed adit andi wat ved oe rh imine tre hat ful raed aifou ae mom and thet sg ‘hints et public dng. Ft Forth pat eg carsaraie ali ewe! he Napplthrp, Serato Fink and Wojparice, gloss ena trad been leon by hel isc: ory spt arti ed litera hn work And nce pi fost it raw public nding tly fess a De hare the ‘American Civil Libetin Union, whl hone be seus who objected to having te pay for ach hall aposch wre amoared at MeCathyat Pilitins ‘The “chilling noxorsMones” ofthis att confrontation, the tue nosso the shetorc from both sides, and the smirty ofthe denove tent to that of previous controversies, ll semed to imply that what happend in Brooklyn was a nnovent* Had thon in the mit of the fray lrned no nw offensive or dafensive stages, ther rhetorical or prcticl inthe post decade tal would move them past stalemate? Hat those who were not direct combatants learned nothing sinoe 1900 to lp ring the wartng partis to the peace table? Was tho history of tuts controversy inthe United Sates doomed to repeat ial? ‘Tho answer oth last question may well be ys fame accept the petsmatic view tha conservative alteca expan «deeply roted enc eetale American predisposition agaist state-sponsored et? But it ‘may make better verse to abe a ere dialectical view of wha sce, a {it glance, tobe simply more ofthe sane I he Bistory af ats conto oss in America peated itself in Brooklya, i di so ther ia classe Maras fashion, sta uagedy and the us far? Compare i the isnot tugs f the sariercomtversie—in whic the st {utinal survival of the National Endowenen or he At and i survive of people with AIDS were al vako—the Sensation controversy ‘way step boule nd bizare Th eso races ined Davi Bowe aig-rockerarned-lcrone for the exibition sudo tou (his arch viee-over included questions ike "s Kart?) hares Saatchi ad ‘vetsing mogl tured collector, whose dese to remain anonymous as ‘financial backer ofthe exibition of his wn cletion did not pre {ude his brazen imrference inthe Brooklyn Museum's curatorial ef fos Dennis Heiner an iconolas: who vandalized the offending image with washable, slow-drying white pint that was immediately removed {mayer who professed himself shocko. shocked, to find such pings- fon in a mast whos board inlided his commissioner of cht thir, Schuyler Chapin and tilting markting campaign by them Seum tat promised ticket buyers the possiblity of “shock. vomiting, ‘confusion, panic. euphoria. anxiety." That neither the museum dict ‘or the mayor hd bite os the exhibition pio to judging it sally powerful and intellectually challenging” (Armold Lekman) nd ck suf? (ilians) only added to the postmosieen sens of uneaity surounding the whole controversy. which Lawes Lapham likened toa lee of poformance at DDeserbing the Sensation contowary as faceal may soem only to underscore it frustrating potntessnes. ls allure to advance beyond {he srry spectacle of ater cntroverse, Ax Marx nod, hawever, po tive farce an ossontal prod oral and fective pola ation. Por Mars of cure, euch ston would be revolutionary Redors ofthis volume, Hower wll probebly be vatited with something les gra ‘ioe, yet il metal policy analyrn and recomendations that con stractively anticipate controversy, cepa ite potanil impact, and provide famowork fr managing it Tho cay tha fellow fe ararg> (tvoch policy eneormnts tof Ti braking down the Brooklyn controversy into distinct pole de rains, ech of which ale for several quit diferent kinds of expertise, this took marks a departire fom the valuablo books published ine sponse tcalor ontrverion® Ifa mero difretited, analytical, and ‘nul: [iPnot non) paran spposch toward ata controversies ema tmergng, T would agent that iti pat Bacau ofthe faces qual ity ofthis Its ound of cultural fstou:For the Ret time, ata ‘ntroversy hd rien in which the various takholders— the masoum {tet the mayor, the Cabolic Lage, the collect alte medi, ox ‘walle the publocould be understood a acting primarily no oat of “ological rentation or passions or emits (with al he tac luratonalites these imply} but out ofthe tl that ply ke fees ‘made of intense but calculated, ort least calculable, ners “Take the palatr athe center ofthe eootioversy, Chis Of. Ualike ‘ass caught up in previous canoversies such as Mapplethorpe Tiley, ‘and Wojaasica, Of suo milan yolcng a quer nals desire for Inclusion in Amica pola if Ben in Bitain, he haul stood out ‘at radical, von during the nase otery over wot Sensation at’ Porritof notorious cid Kile (Telly, the protest atid eee fn England agaist Of came tom a dsgrutled as, agora F's ‘wininathe pestigous Turner Prize in 1990, who dup ap of dus fon the stops ofthe Tate Gallery and implanted a placard in the heap that rnd “Modern Ant isa Load of Bllsi.") Among arate whove work Id! drawn fr Amie, Of had th most m cmon wth Serano, ‘whose works over long period delberatly aimed at provoking are ‘pone from the Catholic Church. Both atts hid uxtaposed « Css ‘ban conto bodily waste in thir art. Hut while Sates ile, Ps Christ (Ggure 1 foend the recgnition on iewers, On ile, The Hay Yt im Mary, ceric and Of hist refused 10 be drawn In argu ‘monts about what his work meant politcal That Satchi himself came ss much ightning od as Of en ‘marks parte fom easier nts controversies. eich dbase fo ‘sed onthe meaning ofthe ats’ work rater than oh the meas ‘oftheir patrons, As acollctor. Saatchi might nan err axa have ben ‘tae inerpationhiscllction akon a a efieton of peso ast Figere 2. Andes Sera, Pas Cv, ie the artist and is beck the institution responsible for bring in apolitical en eum wes honor 2g controversial att the public was not en kin [pot present and future Ugh at we mt Compete fr new, expanded, and toe diveraeandenres, We mat reinvent wha woofs to eur pub lic a order to mak the BMA tore intellectually accesible all aud fences."” While Lehman went on to claim that the Sensation show was ‘meant to speak “to the topical sociocultural ees, exprestedthroagh at that drive or daly fives.” his phrasing mad clea that these is Dennis Barie might have understood “divariy” ox pal, orething Trought tothe coneclousnoss of audionces trough the art of & Mapplthorpa Por the Brooklyn Musou, in comtast diversity was a dcr “activite donogrephicfoshae ofthe mudience it eoapht orc '\ similar shift occured n he seay conservative opponents of in ‘moral at understood ther task ether than framing ther objections a Ccnoerns about “funy values” as Protestant fundamentals auch at the Reverend Donald Wildmon andthe Christan Colton ad dane in the early 10006, Catholics, spurred by Wiliam Doooke, president ot the Catholic Laeguo, tacked Oils painting ne an arnt to thei el tion Speeking a «defender of theft ater than a religous zal Dnohve could lam to bs the protector of the ntrests af Catholics, intoess mach more narrowly defined but also as consequence more curly tenable nto politcal action. Boouvs he roprneaed fr damental Grebrnds simply didnot, and he usd this dict acoso sttutionally wid constituency, rather than a colton, Do the or of elected ficial in a drat way that Wldmon and ot bing straght to tho mayor his group's viows of Sensation, views the mayor promptly acted on ‘The mayor's action Vel reflctd the general shi from ideology to intoest that distinguished the Brooklyn Museum controversy fom previous ones, When lacuna licils wore driven Wo act agi the Mapplaorpe wiles hey altmpic to takes rial ‘fa; when Congress ook its are in 1940 ret fer wrantoes tesren lt they woul oot be cbocone on goverment ine; ard when back aldermen in Chicago objected to depiction of revered Mayor uold Washington in dr thy stormed the Schon ofthe Ar Inet ute to “ares” the painting, Mayer Giuliani's actions wore more pr ddontandcalelate temporary impoundment of operating funds along ‘wth threats to witha funding ad eve the museum fram yawned land, Asa former prosocwtoe Giullan surely knew that he cours wore ‘lghly ule tallow hs to punish the museun inthis wa. bat as A savvy politician he jst as surly know that making such heats was ‘an etoctive political gesture. For all hes varios akolders, bn, an ats cnfcoveray tt lier ncaration might have beon driven by passions (moral, = ‘ete political was reduce. ait were, to amore rtionaload confit of itonts and interest groupe. Thanks to thi rationalization, plley ‘sperte can more ally modal how intrest tk shop neste, con ‘org, or balance each other. Is easor a well chart the poole ways ‘In which controversies can play oat, and to help polieymars under ‘Hand wha can and cannot be done to contol the cutcome, "At matters have come lear, howe the carplaity of policy ‘srues nat controversio has bacome more, not es evident. Ta Fst [Amendment mes dscuaed n Part of his volume, for example, ap- pearls atark ond more choca, than hed previously ben seve ts now clear tht goverment can control aise speach net mersly by dafunding or protecting olenive apeech out court ut by exerci {nga ange of options. As Cas Suten shows, government can do more ‘han jst eansar or pul fanding to penalize att donsn't ike may ek ot at by rgulting the suc at may re, the vewpoins fof mubject artiste may offer, o even the form or gee that atte may ‘workin with each of test efforts more or less likey to stand up to onstitutional scrutiny, Goverment may also simply decline to fund at all f public opinion doesnot suppor ars funding. This last prospect ‘makes moe Fist Amendment victres hollow one, according to av Sauss. Politicians may choose to Lose in cum in dev rede lange term pubic support fo the as. But the most radial option open to government may be the one hat Stephen Prsir suggest nd hat Mask Schuster argues Is already on the horizon: redefining the rlationship ‘between governmont and rane sa partner, with ll hr acca. sbi sul arangomentslnposo on reipints of funding, Sine this ts more and more th lt i prctc, atest with ed wo muse ns, holding he ine against farther encroachment of such mechanisns| (fete fading winy be the nent laion of ee eperch edvocson Ite reflex ays hat wl fandamen tally change the train om which Fist Amendment questions wil be ‘engage public served by the at ovaving a wl ith ros ing change in the train on which questions ae engaged abo! how mustums should manage controveesy ven without the goverment loo Ing over their shoulders, museums have always pursued exhibition and ‘sducation pli matt firm standard—of exons, easy, taste, ‘decency reposentativeness—share by the publ But the notion ot a unified puble tise, slays amt, has ove the pas soveral decades fen way tow move nuanced reget that Ameria contains lle Fedo of cltral communities, each wilh ts own distinctive mare sen of impropriny snd damand or espoct the frst phoso of his evolution, musoums found themselves be tween «mck anda hard plc. For those priviloged commnitin whose ‘standards bad previously stood unchallenged a public ones, offre by ‘museums to rexpond to othr sonitiviis wore soon as abusonments (Fall standards whatsover. Als in the 1960s, cxiten ka Hilton ‘Keamor and John Canady complained bitsy thet the Netropoitan ‘Museum of At’ groundbreaking Horlom on My Mind exhibition repre sonted a “politiaising” ofthe museum. Versions ofthis argumont ‘would renege more virulent in the lao 1980s with tho declaration ‘cultural war by conservatives, who somod wiling to destroy muse- tums in onder to save them from yong over to the cultural ee. Ye ‘eve a they were being charged with offing the dominant culture, rmuseuns also were charged wih fending the emergent groups they ‘wer trying o serve, The Hlerem show, for insanes, earned eritcian from seithin the Afi American community fo ving a outsider’ ‘ew of black culture, Even an institution as progressive as the Shoo! ‘ofthe Art Insite of Chicago found isalf accused of racist insenstiv~ ity in the 1968 fracas ver th Harald Washington painting eteting on that contoversy shorty afterward Carol Bockor d- ‘rnd the sbuence of “ulin avenues of rust and negotiation between the Act nstite and the community, which could have been employed te de-sclae the event" Since then, balding such avenve has be- ‘ome esr. the new tury bens caltarl pluralism has bacon ‘5 more or lee std phenomenon, and communis theres ha come orm organ, coharont, and septa epresmating thal o> tora Tan 0 eureys lik the one conde hy Davi Halle am auricd i this vlume, even be testes of hybrid domogaphcproupe ‘rv boginnng tobe mapped. with surprising and poentilly weal Bnd Ings (Who knew Atlant would ike Sonata le than Catenin, or that Republican re rt ax opposed to he govt aig atin public mosoume ar are Donors?) Unfortu manures and nt furs enrtatins eve ct yl rede um of sur pic wolsoderslop Cerafally thought through gideines about how agains with com ‘minke sould be med or shout baw community perspectives should be incorported into a miseums Inatttionalstrudure, Ae at sepa in thi rection, Tel Elaine muscu ty more fully divealy not jus i offing but tho own policymaking den cating ust ts, and David Roe comers proctve measures to educate board ‘ommunto, andthe neds about manu ative in genera. WIT Michal cations vs, however, thet suc meusure an go oaly ‘2 r, pven the nonverbal nate af mages, Boone pictures don't di rosy oy anything yt ee saying cme, pts dm 'o project alatements oto thon. At the very lant ie, ruse ad to ink carefully about the eychologialeeciniares metvating ou rage a conroersial at, Ifcnly to gage the pose of the forces with whic they ae grappling ‘But oven If sous could aol or de-sealae cantoversis, do- Ing 9 might be bad policy. Inéod, ina democracy. ne might argue the alm of publicly funded at shouldbe to gamete cacont purpose. fully, to bing the moment to cri, to refit or tring to th sr face emus In ned of ecalation. As Mitchell puts “Demonstrations In ont of museums area sgn ofa healay state of afar, nat a ego lable somaly tht shenld be avant hy fne-tin prne” He nek clear whether museum polices en be david to gn neon fther in order to delberataly incite ater than avert a ection thy ontal and ‘o channels enagy toward productive dlopen. Whit x lee tht hse corfu cristemanagemen thinking before the at shout the ae ‘ay of ints and sensibilities within th publi. tho ory comm tie tht shoul be dra inl ncsion wil iter moet it aogeher renter i enraged. No ersemanagement plan to defend First Amendment sights or sooth offend rensilities, howave, could have propated the Brock: Jy Atesnam for the unanticipated secu on ite onding arrangements {or Sensation. With a ont-page expo in the Abu Yok Tmo dackly potting that “far oe than ha er previously diceso th Sen ‘etl’ exiiton te ben Eaanced by companion and ineliidols with det comarca intra in the work of he Bria att tho show” aw font had ew ene nthe clr eas. At sue ‘eer nt conflicts of tata o ight, bat confi of intro. For those ‘ime bythe veatione wou! the mean quid pn qu dea wih mors, what ae ally afte in Hy a red a a tin about the morality or nano srbelized in the ato ten about the ethic quality of tho at tl at sak was what anes Cano calls the principle fisted nguiry” giding the museum, which Cuno ‘mora or ls agate with the Intros ofthe pli. One might share ‘he muss’ tte or agoads, hen bil decrying ie ftorortodneae [A dtl about the Bnaneing and commerce ns for tha wxton leadout tho sours bag to look Cuno wit ko“ "hiv hand fer private ntret if nat a Interested party ial’ "Where conf fine ian ae, a al lawyers know, the ap paranc of coals of intrest ls wil surtace a «problem. Hencs ‘es tmecrpig dat th charge ths pret open the et ed not only selling oul ena ntorss bat ls docepto ‘covering wp tb ru su! the extent end tre of ts dealing wilh ‘misnfonoion and disinformation. As Andris Sedoté points ext, the ‘est way to counter such change iso adopt plicy ofall disclosure ‘von Brokly had weleemed journalist te enrdroom, af cure the ineeasngpresursof weal Sourhoer news yoy, pach our fam, igmrancesbot thems ara he cruhing need t kwp om ery ‘might sll have deven coverage. But a the absoace of such a ply Sedat sows, journalist are esto indulge in the worst endencos of tele prfesion, substituting outage fr analysis. a qulck vat Fr re- search into “what kind of lng prectes ave customary In ranging nia shows whet sof dal foo the il ow earls work ‘rth private patos i outing wrens, sal how iuseum shows Fnflence the at maka” Not that such research would necessarily reveal a scandatoe ltr, 7 oven a cles one. A Gite Edelson ofthe Dales Aas ‘ation of Ameren evel, na papa hat it ove ame at word ro fessionals he conforence stunned, musoums have shown inpatant tris eventhough colactors wer oti hen for asa the time ‘ofthe mbiiion: museums hav akan commision on ele of work ‘hay exhibit nd some masaims have ciety eld et js he ong ‘lfc and print commoner thir git shop eter {oor that wll, What's orm such pracios may be perfectly jst tle unde tin eondiona Edelson Inn sta ones] policy towed the maka spol bd ido, “Ae the enaye fn thi volume make can, however, thanks to the {ntorots 20 ally roveated in the Brooklyn Museum controverny, r= ours ean go beyond ad ho, case-by-case reasoning not only abot their commercial dealings but also about thir dealings with th public and the state The mor teansparent th intrest, the easor i willbe to fr- ‘mulatosonsible policies regarding the rights, responsibilities, and rp tation of A ores ‘The phase “

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