Censure, suite. Jonathan Katz, la National Coalition Against Censorship, le NY Times et la Fondation Warhol

Emily Roysdon's "David Wojnarowicz Project" (see also http://artforum.com/video/mode=large&id=23942)

1/Statement from Jonathan D. Katz, co-curator of the National Portrait Gallery’s Hide/Seek:Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

"I curated, with David C. Ward of the National Portrait Gallery, the groundbreaking exhibition Hide/Seek. Sadly, I was not consulted when the Smithsonian elected to censor a work by David Wojnarowicz, and then redoubled that insult by referring to “AIDS victims” in their statement—employing the very victimizing locution Wojnarowicz fought with his dying breath to oppose. (Ward was "consulted" but his objections were ignored.) An exhibition explicitly intended to finally, in 2010, break a 21-year-old blacklist against the representation of same sex desire in America’s major museums now, ironically, finds itself in the same boat. In 1989, Senator Jesse Helms demonized Robert Mapplethorpe’s sexuality, and by extension, his art, and with little effort pulled a cowering art world to its knees. His weapon was threatening to disrupt the already pitiful Federal support for the arts. And once again, that same weapon is being brandished and once again we cower. When will it be time for the decent majority of Americans stand against a far-Right fringe that sees censorship as a replacement for dialog and debate? There are larger principles at work, and generations hence will judge our actions today.

This is a culture war we did not seek out, nor start. But appeasing tyranny has never worked and can never work, for tyranny wants only obedience, and blind obedience is antithetical to what this nation stands for; we were, as a people, born in protest to tyranny. Were the men and women whose portraits grace the National Portrait Gallery able to take a stand, I have little doubt they would line up behind the separation of Church and State, enshrined in our Constitution, that this incident calls so painfully into question. Furthermore, they would readily agree that America’s core value, also enshrined in our Constitution, is our freedom of speech. With this as our defining principle, it stands to reason we will disagree, but our disagreements are healthy, even necessary to achieving a genuine democracy. We should be promoting this national conversation, not killing it. Art in general, and this kind of art in particular, is precisely a spur to conversation and to thought--something all civil society should support and celebrate. But when the Smithsonian, under pressure to be sure, starts bowing to its censors, it abrogates its charge as our National museum.

Over a century and half ago, Walt Whitman wrote, in support of precisely the core values currently under threat:

Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!

Whoever degrades another degrades me, And whatever is done or said returns at last to me….

Through me forbidden voices, Voices of sexes and lusts, voices veil'd and I remove the veil, Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigur'd.

We sought to remove a veil and in opposing that move, our enemies have damaged our democracy once again. I pray it is not another 21 years before someone else tries to remove that veil again. I am sad for us all.

Thanks,

Jonathan
www.facebook.com/support.hide.seek

2/ National Coalition Against Censorship Issues Joint Statement Concerning the National Portrait Gallery's Removal of Artist David Wojnarowicz Video

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 2010 MEDIA CONTACTS Svetlana Mintcheva, (212) 807-6222 ext. 23 or svetlana@ncac.org

The National Coalition Against Censorship has circulated the following statement in response to the National Portrait Gallery's removal of a David Wojnarowicz video. It is jointly signed by the National Coalition Against Censorship, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, AICA-USA, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Association of American Publishers, Catholics for Choice, Defending Dissent Foundation, District of Columbia Advocates for the Arts, Advocates for the Arts District of Columbia Arts Center, The First Amendment Project, Provisions Library: Resources for Arts and Social Change, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, Washington Project for the Arts, and The Woodhull Freedom Foundation
The National Portrait Gallery Betrays Constitutional Principles by Censoring Controversial Viewpoints: A joint statement by the National Coalition Against Censorship, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, AICA-USA,Americans United for Separation of Church and State,Association of American Publishers, Catholics for Choice, Defending Dissent Foundation, District of Columbia Advocates for the Arts, Advocates for the Arts District of Columbia Arts Center, The First Amendment Project, Provisions Library: Resources for Arts and Social Change, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, Washington Project for the Arts,and The Woodhull Freedom Foundation The removal of David Wojnarowicz's 1987 video Fire in My Belly from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in response to pressure from the Catholic League and Republican Members of Congress is a shameful assault on First Amendment principles, which preclude government officials from using their financial and political power to determine what viewpoints should and should not be allowed into a public museum. The video was part ofHide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, an exhibition exploring issues of sexuality and specifically gay sexuality. After a sensationalizing review of the show published on CNSNews.com (formerly the Conservative News Service, a news website owned by the Media Research Center) the Catholic League objected to the exhibition and specifically David Wojnarowicz' video, a work which is part death elegy about the artist's mentor and lover Peter Hujar and part angry tirade about the AIDS epidemic. The video uses, among many others, images of crucifixes. The Catholic League called the video "hate speech." Soon Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the presumptive incoming House speaker, and incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), as well as some other Republican legislators, joined the League in demanding the cancellation of the show, as well as threatening future funding to the Smithsonian. Yielding to political pressure, the Gallery's director, Martin Sullivan, removed Wojnarowicz's video from the exhibition on November 30th. Anybody is entitled to criticize an art show but First Amendment principles bar government officials from suppressing controversial viewpoints andimposing the values held by one religious group on society at large. The National Portrait Gallery cannot and should not tailor its programming to promote the views of certain interest groups at the expense of others. Taxpayer funds go to maintain a vibrant and diverse cultural sphere that serves all Americans not just Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, Christians or Jews. We may differ on cultural or social issues and argue about these issues - in the press, in public spaces, in galleries and performance spaces, but government officials cannot use financial leverage as a threat to silence those with whom they disagree. In 1998, while upholding the so-called NEA decency clause, the US Supreme Court warned that serious First Amendment problems would be raised were the government "to leverage its power" to fund art "into a penalty on disfavored viewpoints." The Catholic League may insist that religious symbols are its property and others (especially homosexuals) cannot use them, however, a national museum is barred by First Amendment principles, as well as by its mission to serve all Americans, from enforcing those views on the rest of us. As the U.S. Supreme Court stated in 1952, "the state has no legitimate interest in protecting any or all religions from views distasteful to them...It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine." The National Portrait Gallery's failure to stand up for its own curatorial selection and for the free speech rights of artists and museum visitors is likely to have a chilling effect on future programming. Once the institution has caved in to political pressure from religious groups and suppressed work deemed "sacrilegious" by those groups, it's inevitable, as the Supreme Court warned in 1952, that it will yield to "the most vocal and powerful orthodoxies" and "find it virtually impossible to avoid favoring one religion over another." The Smithsonian, of which the National Portrait Gallery is part, is a public trust serving the interests of all Americans. It betrays its mission the moment it ejects a work whose viewpoint some dislike.
About the National Coalition Against Censorship The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. United by a conviction that freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression must be defended, we work to educate our own members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose them.

National Coalition Against Censorship
725 7th Ave, New York, NY 10001

www.ncac.org llr=qf8d4xcab&et=1104017131779&s=972&e=001Z2XbU_UFPevt6slAjPN7TbRCqP7KJnTNpTYJxm15qCwFYcSrUdy6esxTKQA4HYFh03aJnDv2dc9Hx7WvGP2ang4mZb6vwflgV2rsxH7-UDQ=>

College art association

http://www.collegeart.org/news/2010/12/07/caa-deplores-pressure-to-remove-artwork-at-the-national-portrait-gallery/

Assoc of Art Museum Directors:
http://aamd.org/newsroom/documents/20101203_NationalPortraitGallerystatementFINAL.pdf

Lire également l'article de Holland Cotter dans le New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/arts/design/11ants.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&hpw

C'est au tour de la Fondation Andy Warhol de rentrer dans (le lard) de cette histoire, menaçant, dans une lettre adressée lundi 13 décembre, de ne plus bailler ultérieurement de fonds à l'institution Smithsonian, si la vidéo de Wojnarowicz n'est pas rétablie dans l'exposition. En effet, la Fondation Andy Warhol a donné 100 000 dollars pour l'expo Hide/Seek et, à l'unanimité de son conseil d'administration, entend ainsi faire respecter sa voix, en hypothéquant ses subventions futures sur l'intégrité du propos de cette exposition.

Egalement une réaction d'AA Bronson :
http://hyperallergic.com/14915/aa-bronson-smithsonian-hide-seek/