Culture Wars: Then and Now
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TRANSFORMER AND THE NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design
MEDIA
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design, along with partners Transformer and the National Coalition Against Censorship presented Culture Wars: Then and Now, a FREE one-day symposium that examined past and current debates about freedom of expression and public support for the arts.
“In light of recent censorship by the Smithsonian Institution and threats by congressional leaders to pull arts funding from national arts institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Culture Wars: Then and Now presents very timely conversation examining how freedom of expression and public support for the arts are currently being debated,” said Victoria Reis, executive and artistic director of Transformer.
Culture Wars: Then and Now will examine censorship in four unique discussions: Censorship Examined, Culture Wars Redux, Give Me a Revolution: Artists’ Responses to Censorship, and Free Speech & Arts Funding.
“We are convening this symposium because the fear of controversy and subsequent institutional self-censorship that come in the wake of a censorship incident are much more dangerous than the incident itself,” said Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship.
All panels will be held at the Frances and Armand Hammer Auditorium from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26 and are free and open to the public.
“The Corcoran is pleased to partner with Transformer and the Coalition to put this important discussion, and subsequent dialogue, on the center stage, where it belongs,” said Corcoran Director and President Fred Bollerer.
Marshall Reese of Ligorano/Reese Collaborations and a participating panelist in Culture Wars said:
“During the first week of December, I had this strange sense of dejavu. Once again, politicians were censoring a major art exhibition, and it was even the same artist, David Wojnarowicz. It was almost as if I had been asleep for the past 20 years. And yet, it's become clear, this isn't just some weird Twilight Zone like aberration; it's the onslaught of an attack on not just our civil liberties, but with what's happening in Wisconsin on the American way of life.”
To further punctuate aspects of the conversations taking place throughout the symposium, video works via Franklin Furnaces The History of the Future! A Franklin Furnace View of Performance Art will be shown in the Corcoran Atrium during the lunch break and between panel sessions.
A reception for panelists and attendees will follow in the Corcoran Atrium from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Pre-registration is encouraged; to register, visit https://getinvolved.corcoran.org/culturewars.
SCHEDULE
Censorship Examined | 10–11 a.m.
In this presentation, Culture Wars: Then and Now keynote speaker, Robert Storr, Dean, Yale School of Art, will examine visual arts censorship within the context of American culture and history. (Screening of Linda Lewett’s video Perfect Moment at WPA prior to panel)
Culture Wars Redux – What did we (what do we) consider offensive? | 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Panelists include Philip Brookman, chief curator and head of research, Corcoran Gallery of Art and former curator of Washington Project for the Arts; Dennis Barrie, director of cultural and interpretive planning, Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement and former director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center; Jane Livingston, independent curator, author, and former associate director and chief curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art; and H. Louis Sirkin, attorney and founding member of Sirkin Kinsley & Nazzarine, who represented Dennis Barrie and CAC in the obscenity trial provoked by the 1989 Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective, The Perfect Moment. The discussion will be moderated by Svetlana Mintcheva, director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Give me a Revolution: Artists’ Responses to Censorship | 2–3:30 p.m.
Open with screening of Martha Wilson’s October 24, 2008 performance Barbara Bush: All Washed UP and Guerilla Girls’ HERSTORY and/or “animation” piece.
Panelists include Mike Blasenstein and Michael Dax Iacovone from the Museum of Censored Art; Orameh Bagheri from LA Raw; Bill Dobbs of Art+; and Marshall Reese of Ligorano/Reese Collaborations. The discussion will be moderated by Victoria Reis, executive and artistic director of Transformer.
Free Speech & Arts Funding | 4–5:30 p.m.
Panelists include Nora Halpern, vice president of leadership alliances, Americans for the Arts; Michael Keegan, president, People for the American Way; Robert Atkins, art historian, activist, author, and co-editor of Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Freedom of Express; David A. Smith, senior lecturer in American History at Baylor University, Waco, TX and author of Money for Art: The Tangled Web of Art and Politics in American Democracy. The discussion will be moderated by Andy Grundberg, associate provost and dean of undergraduate studies, Corcoran College of Art + Design.
