Unsettling 'Sensation': Arts-Policy Lessons from the Brooklyn Museum of Art Controversy None Edition
Author(s): Professor Lawrence Rothfield
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication Date: June 1, 2001
Edition: None
Language: English
Print length: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 0813529352
ISBN-13: 9780813529356
Book Description
In September 1999, Sensation, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, opened its doors, igniting a controversy still burning in the art world. This collection of cutting-edge art from the Saatchi collection in England, and the museum’s arrangements with Charles Saatchi to finance the show, so offended New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani that he attempted to shut the museum down by withholding city funds that are crucially needed by that institution. Only a legal ruling prevented him from doing so. Like the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition before it, Sensation once again raises questions about public spending for “controversial” art, but with the added dimension of religious conflict and charges of commercialization.
The contributors to this volume use the Sensation exhibition as a stepping-stone to analyze larger questions such as the authority the government has to withhold funds, various interpretations of the First Amendment, how to respect divergent cultural and religious values; and the economic stake of museums and dealers in art. In their articles—written expressly for this volume, and spanning the disciplines of law, cultural studies, public policy, and art—the contributors consider issues at the center of arts policy. They propose various legal strategies, curatorial practices, and standards of doing business intended to serve the public interest in the arts.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Is there anything left to learn about the Brooklyn Museum’s 1999 Sensation controversy, which pitted…First Amendment supporters against a demagogic mayor who never even saw the “offensive” work in question? Surprisingly, yes, based on these 17 diverse and readable essays about the press, the law, and the public responses to the arts….The book’s essays range from…discussion of the treatment of the arts in mass media to a trio of analyses of the First Amendment that amply illustrate the complexity of constitutional law. ― ArtnewsUnsettling Sensation finally provides a nuanced account of what happened during the tug-of-war over artist Chris Ofili’s painting The Holy Virgin Mary, in Brooklyn in the fall of 1999. The 21 essays respond to the controversy along a number of sightlines including the law, the public’s relationship to museums, offensive images, government funding and the press. ― Park Slope Paper
Were Catholics offended, as was Rudy Giuliani, by Chris Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary, a painting of a black Madonna surrounded by elephant dung and representations of genitalia? Apparently not, at least not those Catholics who attended the 1999 show at the Brooklyn Museum, according to a survey included in this wide-ranging collection of 17 essays on the issue of free speech and arts funding. ―
Rutgers Magazine
From the Back Cover
In September 1999, Sensation, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, opened its doors, igniting a controversy that would rage for many months in the world’s art capital. This collection of cutting-edge art from the Saatchi collection in England, and the museum’s arrangements with Charles Saatchi to finance the show, so offended New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani that he attempted to shut the museum down by withholding city funds that are crucially needed by that institution. Only a legal ruling prevented him from doing so. Like the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition before it, Sensation once again raises questions about public spending for “controversial” art, but with the added dimension of religious conflict, animal rights, and charges of commercialization.
The contributors to this volume use the Sensation exhibition as a springboard to analyze larger questions such as what authority the government has to withhold public funds; how to interpret the First Amendment; how to reflect the cultural and religious values of a diverse metropolitan area; and the ethical dilemmas of the relationship between museums and dealers in art. In their articles-written expressly for this volume, and spanning the disciplines of law, cultural studies, public policy, and art-the contributors consider these issues at the center of arts policy. They propose various legal strategies, curatorial practices, and standards of doing business intended to serve the public interest in the arts.
Contributors are Carol Becker, Homi K. Bhabha, John Brewer, James Cuno, Gilbert S. Edelson, Esq., Teri J. Edelstein, Richard A. Epstein, David Halle, D. Carroll Joynes, W.J.T. Mitchell, Stephen B. Presser, Kimerly Rorschach, David A. Ross, Lawrence Rothfield, J. Mark Schuster, Geoffrey R. Stone, David A. Strauss, Cass R. Sunstein, András Szántó, Elisabeth Tiso, and Gihong Yi
About the Author
LAWRENCE ROTHFIELD is an associate professor of English and comparative literature and director of the Cultural Policy Program at the University of Chicago.
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