This was sent to us by the Artist Network (Nat'l Office in New York) and may
be of interest to you:
Attention Artists:
Giuliani is galloping ahead with his Art Censorship Campaign. Check out the
article below which appears in the NY Daily News today (Wednesday).
First it was Renee Cox’s "Yo Mama’s Last Supper," and now it is Brad
McCallum & Jacqueline Terry’s "Witness: Perspectives on Police Violence"
exhibit at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (Rudy calls it "anti-cop"). The
"Decency Commission," recently established by Giuliani (see 2nd article
below), has assigned itself the task of banning art works they find
objectionable from government-funded institutions. This is no joke, and it
affects us all. Even the name of this "commission" has antecedents in
the 3rd Reich.
Will the artists sit arms-folded while government officials establish
themselves as the policemen of our museums—determining, through open
intimidation, what art will see the light of day? There is some momentum
building to stop these sinister developments, but much more is needed.
Tonight, a book signing will happen at Bronx Museum exhibit. Come out and
show support for the artists, and/or send your thoughts on this matter-- and
ideas on how artists can resist. -- to the Artists Network of Refuse &
Resist! (artists@...)
__
Booksigning event for author Andrea McArdle’s "Zero Tolerance: Quality of
Life and the New Police Brutality in New York City, on Wednesday, April 18th
at 5:30 to 8:30 PM. The event will be held in conjunction with the
installation "Witness: Perspectives on Police Violence", presented by Bradley
McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry.
Bronx Museum of the Arts at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street in the Bronx.
# 4, B, D trains to 161st St.; (718) 681-6000. The event is free.
___
From the New York Daily News
Art Labeled Anti-Cop
Bronx Museum exhibit draws Rudy's ire
April 18, 2001
By JOSE MARTINEZ
Mayor Giuliani and the police union panned an exhibit yesterday at the
city-funded Bronx Museum of the Arts that highlights in stark photographs and
tape recordings police brutality cases. "Witness: Perspectives on Police
Violence" includes pictures of the Bronx building where Amadou Diallo was
gunned down by four cops and the
Brooklyn stationhouse where Abner Louima was tortured. The exhibit, which
runs through Sunday, also features voice recordings of alleged brutality
victims and their families — emanating from old-time police emergency call
boxes.
Sunny Mindel, a Giuliani spokeswoman, said the exhibit ignores good work by
cops — including a big drop in the murder rate in the precinct where the
South Bronx museum is located. "We're sure the people of the 44th Precinct
are very grateful that in the year 2000, there were 24 murders as opposed to
the 69 that occurred in 1993," before Giuliani took office, she said.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association spokesman Joe Mancini said: "It's a
disgrace that the Bronx museum considers these
cop-bashing enterprises art."
But husband-and-wife art team Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry insisted
their
exhibit is not "anti-cop." "It's speaking to a community that can relate to
racial profiling and feeling a more heavy-handed police," said McCallum, a
former artist in residence at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The exhibit is part of the Bronx Museum of the Arts1 Cap program, which is
funded
by the city Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Lily Auchincloss and
William
Randolph Hearst foundations. The installation also is supported by the Rev.
Al Sharpton's National Action Network, the NYCLU and 100 Blacks in Law
Enforcement, among other activist groups, the museum said.
The latest feud over art in the city flared up after the Bronx Museum
scheduled a party tonight, in conjunction with the exhibit, to promote a book
edited by NYU doctoral candidates Andrea McArdle and Tanya Erzen. "Zero
Tolerance: Quality of Life and the New Police Brutality in New York City," is
a collection of essays about alleged police brutality. It studies "the
hyper-violent response of white male police officers" to the events detailed
in the book, museum officials said. The 15 essays take a critical look at
policies that the author and a museum press release claim target "homeless
people, vendors and sexual minorities." "It's not an anti-police book,"
McArdle said. "It's an anti-police brutality collection." Jenny Dixon, the
museum's executive director, said the "Witness" exhibit and the book detail
the reality of life in the Bronx.
"This is what's happening in our world," she said. "Artists' jobs are to
reflect the culture, to reflect the times." In October, the exhibit traveled
to 20 spots in the city where people died in confrontations with cops.
Among the voices heard from the cast-iron call boxes is that of Iris Baez,
whose son
died in the grip of a cop's illegal choke hold on a Bronx street. "I had a
fear of the cops," said one female voice on the tapes. "It's more rare that
you see good cops — very rare."
From the New York Daily News
Art Panel Begins Framework
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Daily News City Hall Bureau Chief
Mayor Giuliani's decency committee kicked off its first meeting yesterday,
holding a discussion behind closed doors about how City Hall might weed out
objectionable artworks at city-funded museums. Members of the panel — who
include Rabbi Shea Hecht, Giuliani's divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, Guardian
Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and former Nixon White House lawyer Leonard
Garment — gathered in a government office near City Hall but would say little
about their first day of work.
"We had a round-table discussion of how we were going to address the
problem," said panel member Larry Herbert, chairman of Pantone and a member
of the State Council on the Arts. "Nothing was etched in stone." City
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Schuyler Chapin addressed the group. Questioned
after the meeting, Felder said only, "The ground rules are the meetings are
private, and we are not going to discuss them."
Giuliani — angered by a photo that appeared at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
depicting Jesus as a naked black woman— convened the panel to explore ways
the city might restrict public funding for controversial art. Free speech
advocates have criticized the panel for imposing a blackout on its
discussions. City officials said the committee, which serves in an advisory
role to the mayor, is not covered by open-meetings laws.
The sessions "will all be closed," Herbert said. Giuliani has backed away
from threats of imposing penalties on museums. Garment, the committee
chairman, has acknowledged that the city's ability to segregate art it will
fund is limited, given First Amendment court rulings.
