Censoring Art in Brooklyn Again - Parks Dept and Brooklyn College Shut Down MFA Thesis Show
Unbelievable! I thought we were finally over censoring artists for sexual content! Apparently not in Gooliani's, er Bloomberg's NY...
The Brooklyn Parks department shut down the thesis show of Brooklyn College MFA Graduates, locking the doors. Adding insult to injury, Brooklyn College workers then came to the show space (a war memorial hall), took down the work and hauled it off in a pickup truck! So says the NYTimes
Nice, with Police intimidation to boot!
Why?
Because Brooklyn Park's Commissioner Julius Spiegel didn't like "a watercolor by Carl James Ferrero of a man's torso, with a narrative about a sexual encounter between two men, one of whom used the computer screen name Dick Cheney."
No image of the offending work is yet available, as soon as one is I will post with updates.
The Commissioner cited a 6 year old verbal agreement between the Parks Department and Brooklyn College that only family friendly work can be shown at the memorial building.
What a bunch of crap. Keep in mind this is a thesis show, this was a show of artworks that graduate students had been working on all year with Brooklyn College teachers. Norman Siegel is on this case as it is a blantant first amendment violation; the students are suing the city. So great that my city tax dollars will have to pay for the Park's Commissioner's repressed libido.
And what the fuck is some official at Brooklyn College thinking dumping the artist's works into a pickup truck?! What kind of betrayal is that. If the works had to be removed, why were the Students not asked to move them?!
There was a protest last Saturday and this is only likely to heat up. Rolling information is being posted at: http://plancensored.blogspot.com
The Brooklyn Parks department shut down the thesis show of Brooklyn College MFA Graduates, locking the doors. Adding insult to injury, Brooklyn College workers then came to the show space (a war memorial hall), took down the work and hauled it off in a pickup truck! So says the NYTimes
"Yesterday morning around 8, a pickup and a moving truck arrived at the building, on Cadman Plaza West, and a dozen Brooklyn College workers took away several artworks. Students, a few armed with video cameras, claimed that some of the works — including a delicate-looking white foam sculpture covered with push pins — had been damaged and told the workers that they could be held liable, a threat that seemed to halt the removal for several hours.
But later in the afternoon the workers took more art out of the building and put it in a pickup truck. Several students jumped into the back of the truck and took the works back out. Three plainclothes police officers arrived and began talking to the students while the workers put the artworks back in the pickup and continued to dismantle and remove the other artworks in the building."
But later in the afternoon the workers took more art out of the building and put it in a pickup truck. Several students jumped into the back of the truck and took the works back out. Three plainclothes police officers arrived and began talking to the students while the workers put the artworks back in the pickup and continued to dismantle and remove the other artworks in the building."
Nice, with Police intimidation to boot!
Why?
Because Brooklyn Park's Commissioner Julius Spiegel didn't like "a watercolor by Carl James Ferrero of a man's torso, with a narrative about a sexual encounter between two men, one of whom used the computer screen name Dick Cheney."
No image of the offending work is yet available, as soon as one is I will post with updates.
The Commissioner cited a 6 year old verbal agreement between the Parks Department and Brooklyn College that only family friendly work can be shown at the memorial building.
What a bunch of crap. Keep in mind this is a thesis show, this was a show of artworks that graduate students had been working on all year with Brooklyn College teachers. Norman Siegel is on this case as it is a blantant first amendment violation; the students are suing the city. So great that my city tax dollars will have to pay for the Park's Commissioner's repressed libido.
And what the fuck is some official at Brooklyn College thinking dumping the artist's works into a pickup truck?! What kind of betrayal is that. If the works had to be removed, why were the Students not asked to move them?!
"Nobody communicated to the students that any of the art was going to be removed this morning," said Zoë Cohen, an artist in the show. "We don't consent to any of this."
There was a protest last Saturday and this is only likely to heat up. Rolling information is being posted at: http://plancensored.blogspot.com
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