Pranksters Strike Again: Art Censorship and Art Funding in America
In an act of high gutter art, some "puckish mystery scoundrel(s)!" conned Art+Auction's online "In the Air" gossip column with a fake Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery web site and press release. For background on this sad story of art censorship in America, see the article in the Huffington Post Blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-keegan/smithsonian-just-put-the_b_805711.html
Hats off to: Michael Blasenstein and Michael Iacovone
In an equally courageous act of high gutter art, two men have created "The Museum of Censored Art," after hosting a successful fundraiser on Saturday, January 8, to defray costs for their new museum http://theendofbeing.com/2011/01/07/museum-of-censored-art-smithsonian-protesters-return-with-permits/
After being banned from The Smithsonian's National Portrait Galery for showing the censored video "Fire in My Belly" on an iPad, Michael Blasenstein and Michael Iacovone are opening the "Museum of Censored Art" in support of art and free speech in America. Here's the link to the article: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/01/05/Museum_of_Censored_Art_to_Launch
According to the January 5, 2011, Washington Post article:
Starting Jan. 13, Blasenstein is converting a 8 x 40 feet trailer into a screening room to show David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly," the video that created a firestorm at the Smithsonian Institution and among conservative politicans and supporters of the arts and freedom of expression....The trailer will be parked in the 700 block of F Street N.W. from Jan. 13 to Feb. 13, the last day of the show. The screening hours will be from 11 a.m.to 7 p.m.
Egg on Your Face: Follow the Links
In the hopes of encouraging others not to believe everything you read and everything you see, and everything you think you believe, I am linking to the prankster's fake site, the real Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery web site, and the January 9, 2011, ArtInfo post about David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) and his artwork, "Fire in My Belly," the 1987 video that was removed from the Smithsonian's show: "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture."
www.nationalportraitgallery.us/
www.npg.si.edu/
http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/01/08/smithsonian-responds-to-censorship-critics-by-basically-creating-david-wojnarowicz-com/
Photo Credit: Phyllis J. O'Rourke, M.A., Artist's reflection on the window of the Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas.
