Beyond the Paywall (3)

 

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall" is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale for you. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

                                        News From the Art World

Intolerance Outside the MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE
   There is some irony left in L.A. where the Museum of Tolerance is located and where fights occurred outside the Museum recently because of what was going on inside. You will find a few articles about it in early November. For example:
"Inside the Museum of Tolerance's Screening of Hamas Attack Footage," Josh Rottenberg, L.A. Times, Nov. 8, 2023.
"Demonstrators Brawl Outside LA's Museum of Tolerance After Screening of Hamas Attack Video," Associated Press, Nov.9, 2023.
The website of the Museum of Tolerance is here.
Now, on to a museum that is really tolerant.

Serrano's Piss Christ

The Upcoming Brawl in Barcelona - THE MUSEUM OF PROHIBITED ART
   The Museum of Prohibited Art is a brand new one in Barcelona and, while I welcome it, it is highly likely that others will not. During a time when everyone is highly sensitive and just about anything displayed is offensive to someone, you have to admire the chutzpah of Tatxo Benet, a wealthy Catalan, who is opening a museum dedicated to nothing but showing offensive artworks which have already been censored and previously prohibited. Skirmishes outside this museum are predicted. Apart from controversial sexual and political items there are also religious ones, although it is also predicted that one religion will be treated lightly and there probably aren't any of those cartoons on display. Some titillating headlines:
"Is This the Most Offensive Museum in the World," James Badcock, The Telegraph, Oct.24, 2023. The question:
"Who would dare to open a museum of censored art in these puritanical times, when barely a day passes without news of a work being withdrawn after offending sensibilities or due to the creator's "problematic" persuasions?"
The answer:
"Tatxo Benet, a Catalan art collector, has no such qualms as he prepares to open the doors of his Museu de l'Art Prohibit in Barcelona tomorrow."

"A New Museum of Prohibited Art Shows How Censorship Evolved: When One Person's Art is Another Person's Insult," The Economist, Nov.3, 2023.

"Christ crucified on a fighter jet. Ronald McDonald on the cross. The Madonna in traditional guise, reaching under her robe between her legs. At the new Museum of Prohibited Art in Barcelona, it is not hard to detect a common theme."

Many objects in the museum focus on religion, but not all. Mockery of macho politicians has a way of bringing out the censors, too. Here is Andy Warhol’s Mao Zedong, there a painting of Emiliano Zapata naked on horseback, wearing a pink sombrero and high heels. (The revolutionary Mexican leader’s descendants threatened, preposterously, to sue the artist, Fabián Cháirez, for defamation.) The museum’s main criterion is that works were banned or censored in some way. Tatxo Benet, a journalist-turned-businessman, founded the museum and collected the art."

The website of the Museu de l'Art Prohibit is here, if you dare to look.

Post Script: 

   Although I suppose one can always find in art a bit of politics, today the latter subject is harder to avoid. I mentioned recently that I visited the Vancouver Art Gallery and among the exhibits is "Conceptions of White" which you can view until Feb. 2, 2024. Curious about the reaction to it, I learned that on social media there were some (probably white) who were not happy with it. Among the regular media I have not found much, but will include the references here to help you decide if you want to go to Vancouver. 

   The VAG description of "Conceptions of White" is found here. 

It includes a YouTube presentation by the curators, found here. (13:50)

An article by Lindsay Shepherd is here. "SHEPHERD: An Inside Look at the Vancouver Gallery's Anti-White Exhibit, True North, Nov. 8, 2023. 

(You may remember her for getting in trouble for showing a bit from a TVO program including Jordan Peterson at WLU.)   

There is another in Georgia Strait: "VAG'S Conceptions of White Takes an Uncompromising Swing at a World That Seriously Needs to Change," Mike Usinger, Sept. 7, 2023.