October 15, 1999/5 Cheshvan 5760, Vol. 52, No. 7
Politics of artEditorialHow broad should protection of artistic freedom be - and how circumscribed its politicization?The questions frame the discussion in New York, where the 90 works in the Brooklyn Museum's recently opened "Sensation" exhibit have shocked viewers, inspired the ire of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and created a cause celebre in the art world. Politicos, aesthetes and civil libertarians have weighed in, debating loudly, and publicly, about cutting-edge art that cuts too close to religious sensibilities, and artistic merit measured against the yardstick of public funding. At the center of the controversy is Nigerian artist Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary," with its wad of elephant dung and snippets of pornographic images affixed to its brightly colored and stippled canvas. Defenders note that works by Ofili, a Roman Catholic, draw on his African-American heritage. Elephants are a symbol of power in Africa, and their dung a symbol of fertility. Outraged critics, including the Union of Orthodox Congregations, decry Ofili's work as another instance of "cultural pollution" in our midst. The New York mayor, quick to sniff out a public relations coup, and the museum, not averse to heightening its avant-garde profile, are playing out the resultant culture war with its clear political implications. It is this politicization of cultural debate that is most problematic. Serious discussions of whether the works are overly offensive or merely provocative (the position of a group of 20 American Jewish museums that issued a statement this week in support of the exhibit), and whether such an exhibit warrants public funding, have been undermined by the mayor's bid for attention and his brazen attempt at censorship. Yet such discussion, like good art, raises important questions, pushes us to see things in new ways, causes us to think and feel, to react and respond. As Giuliani and others use the debate to increase their own political currency, and appoint themselves arbiters of public taste, they denigrate both art and politics. |
