After Smithsonian Pulls art other institutions Band together in protest over GOP and Catholic influence
Our public art institutions should not bow to either a single religion or a political party.
After the video’s removal from the show, a version was placed on YouTube and other online sites. Exhibition quality copies of the four-minute work will be screened at:
• The Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 13.
• Wood Street Galleries, 601 Wood St., Downtown, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 30.
• The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and until 10 p.m. Fridays through Feb. 13.
These venues join august and progressive institutions such as The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The New Museum and the International Center for Photography, New York City; and The Tate Modern, London, England.
“The so-called Culture Wars have begun again,” Warhol director Tom Sokolowski said in a press release. “Prompted, no doubt, by the recent election results, two members of Congress have chosen to take the easy path by inflaming their followers with denunciations of supposedly anti-religious imagery. Wojnarowicz was one of the most important artists of the 1980s. His work shares equal parts anger and poignancy.”
“An institution [the National Portrait Gallery] that stands for American art simply must show American art,” said Mattress Factory co-director Barbara Luderowski. “Anything less is a violation of our freedom of speech and expression.”