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A fiasco governed by fear, not liberty
A fiasco governed by fear, not liberty
Justin Davidson, NYNewsday.com
August 12, 2005
continue reading: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-etcult0812,0,6573333.column?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2
Justin Davidson, NYNewsday.com
August 12, 2005
Blackmailed by the anti-intellectual coalition that runs the rebuilding at Ground Zero, the Drawing Center has started looking for new digs rather than agree to submit to a future of constant censorship.
The small but established downtown museum was to have shared a spangled new building near the memorial with the International Freedom Center, a still-unborn institution that is trying to coalesce out of murky good intentions. Pressured by families of the 9/11 victims, Gov. George Pataki and a coterie of cringing officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. tried to force both institutions to declare that their exhibits would not be used as a platform for anti-American views.
The Freedom Center dishonored itself by agreeing. In a groveling open letter on July 6, the directors proclaimed, "We will not 'blame America' or attack champions of freedom. Any suggestion that we will feature anti-American programming is wrong." (....)
The Drawing Center has no particular plans to mount any anti-American exhibits, but like every sensible arts organization, it is unwilling to let ax-grinding outsiders determine which art is appropriate and which offensive. Occupying a sensitive patch of real estate, freighted with grief and memories, is not a strong enough reason to pledge perpetual politeness. What could be more un-American than the demand that artists not criticize America?
The Freedom Center's promises that all curatorial activities would be governed by patriotism and "good taste" did not of course placate the most intransigent families or help the LMDC out of its muddle. The organization has until Sept. 23 to refine its vow and state explicitly what it will and will not do. But it's hopeless: How can a cultural organization come into existence with one hand and a thumb strapped behind its back and still dedicate its mission to freedom?
And how can any historical analysis of freedom incorporate such a broad and profound constraint? Must a show on South Africa's apartheid experience, for example, gloss over the U.S.'s sluggishness in imposing sanctions? (....)
continue reading: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-etcult0812,0,6573333.column?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2
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