***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 10:09:03 -0600
   [From]: "Chris Drew" <umcac@art-teez.org>
     [To]: "Cultural Exchange via Internet" <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: discussion about sensation

I would like to know what cases of censorship can be told by members of this
list from other areas of the world.

When I visited New York some time ago, a favorite saying of many New Yorkers
was that "New York is the world." New York is not the world. What is the
world?

What are the experiences of others regarding freedom of the artist in their
respective spheres. Are appointed curators responsible for all exhibits? Do
students and grass-roots arts groups challenge local attitudes? Does the
state control all? Is the art scene in touch  with the people so that it has
an effect on local thought patterns or is it only for a small group that is
already in control?

Our agenies local exhibits are not curated in the sense that I select the
best and turn away the rest. Everyone is invited to show. The artists submit
their work and our volunteer committee hangs it. Artists are limited to 3-5
works. There is only a short exhibit form to fill out and no fee. In
reality - because we do not have big-name recognition and because we only
ask for art on t-shirts - we do a lot of encouraging of artists to show. Out
of this effort has come a decade of summer exhibits in accessible places
that presents a diversity of artists from around Chicago.

In contrast, in 1990 the Chicago Cultural Center, which had an unlimited
budget, decided they wanted to showcase Chicago's diversity. They put out a
four color brochure a year ahead of time. They put an African American
Administrator in charge but gave her marching orders. They assembled a small
team of "qualified" judges. The judges never knew the ethnic backgrounds nor
the names of the applicants, as an attempt at fairness to the artists, we
were told later. They had over one thousand artists apply with slides of
their work.

The judges selected those works that most closely reminded them of their
"qualified" educational backgrounds and all but three of the 100 selected
were of European background. The Chicago Cultural Center was highly
embarrassed. Then they tried to insert some more diversity into the exhibit
and their embarrassment increased as some artists cried foul. It was a
fiasco.

They should have done as reported recently in this forum. They should have
had a large number of judges/curators selected more for their diversity of
backgrounds then for their prestigious qualifications and given each a small
number of unquestioned selections totaling about half to three-quarters of
the exhibit and then allowed them to discuss and select the rest as a group.
Or they could have simply noted that diversity was their goal and selected
first for ethnic background and second for "perceived quality." I prefer our
method but have no idea how we would handle one thousand artists. Hindsight
is 100%.