New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani announced this
week that he will cut off city funds to the Brooklyn Museum because it has refused to
cancel an exhibition of what he calls "sick" art. He is particularly unhappy
about a depiction of the Virgin Mary by a Nigerian artist who has incorporated elephant
dung in his work. The artist, a devout Catholic, uses elephant dung in all his work. But
the Mayor, who has not seen the piece or any of the other art in the exhibit that he has
denounced, has depicted it as blasphemous.
|
|
 |
|
ABFFE believes that
Guiliani's effort to cut off the museum's money is both unconstitutional and outrageous.
The Mayor is trying to defund an entire institution because he believes that some of the
art exhibited there is offensive. If such a view is permitted to prevail, museums will no
longer be able to serve as forums for expressing new ideas: they will become showcases of
the conventional. Guiliani's logic can also be extended to other publicly financed
institutions, including libraries and theaters that receive government support.
The Brooklyn Museum has filed suit
to block the Mayor from carrying out his threat, and most legal experts quoted over the
last few days believe the courts will uphold the museum. However, this did not stop the
U.S. Senate from passing a resolution last night that calls for cutting off the museum's
federal funds as well.
ABFFE today joined with other
members of the Free Expression Network in issuing a press release supporting the museum
and denouncing the Mayor. The other FEN members included the Association of American
Publishers, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Campaign for Free
Expression, the National Association of Artists Organization, the Boston Coalition for
Freedom of Expression, the College Art Association and the First Amendment Project.
100 Writers and
Artists Support Brooklyn Museum in New York Times Ad
Today's New York Times will carry
a full page ad supporting the Brooklyn Museum. Paid for by PEN American Center, the ad
contains the names of over 100 artists and writers, including Paul Auster, Russell Banks,
Patricia Bosworth, Judy Blume, Ron Chernow, Joan Didion, E.L. Doctrow, John Gregory Dunne,
Frances Fitzgerald, Mary Gordon, Spalding Gray, John Guare, Annie Liebowitz, Norman
Mailer, Steve Martin, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, Rob
Reiner, Tim Robbins, Luc Sante, Susan Sarandon, Simon Schama, Susan Sontag, William
Styron, Calvin Trillin, Kurt Vonnegut and Wendy Wasserstein.
New Yorkers: Join a
Rally Supporting the Brooklyn Museum Today!
On the eve of the opening of
"Sensation," the show that has provoked the Mayor's ire, supporters of the
Brooklyn Museum will hold a rally from 5 to 7 p.m. in front of the museum. Prominent
artists and writers will address the crowd.
Previously in ABFFE Update
