Contemporary Museum Controversies Introduction  In this lesson, students will question their conceptions of art, learn about the

organizational structure of museums, examine controversial works of art, and consider the value of public arts funding. Two 90 minute blocks Specialty class (no defined SOLs)

 

Cognitive Objectives      Students will consider and explain their own conceptions of art. Students will be able to explain the roles of curators, art critics, and art theorists. Students will describe the ways museums have become more open and conscientious of the public over the last several decades. Students will examine highly controversial works of art that threatened public funding of the arts. Students will read and analyze an article discussing the dynamic between censorship and free speech in the arts.

Materials and Advanced Preparation   PowerPoint presentation/ digital projector Copies of Fine Art or Foul article and questions

DAY ONE: Teaching and Learning Sequence Introduction/ Anticipatory Set (15 minutes)    I will first thank students who did a particularly good job on the previous journal assignment. New material will start with a series of slides that will question the students current opinions on the definition of art. The images will lead to the final image: Andres Serranos Piss Christ o I will ask students why they think I chose to show this piece?  I will remind students that we are studying public art.  The piece was indirectly funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and was exhibited in publicly funded museums. I will inform students of the days agenda: o We will consider the way that museums select works to exhibit. o We will look at the ways that museums have transformed in order to address the public more directly.

o We will discuss the role of National Endowment for the Arts and challenges politicians and religious leaders have led to defund the organization. Lesson Development (70 minutes: 30 minutes lecture, 20 minutes article group work, 20 minutes discussion) y y y I will proceed with the slideshow (see attached slides) The changing face of the art museum o Trends and Controversies The development of Modernism and Post-Modernism in the visual arts has led to a major divide between the art world* and the general population o Disagreements on what art is or should be o Art world: increasingly secular, political, against traditional forms of art and traditional value systems. o *Art world: the culture composed of critics, curators, and theorists, as well as artists themselves, art dealers, art collectors. Museum Mechanics: the art canon o Canon: comprised of artworks decided to be of major significance to the history of art o Decided in large part by  Curators  Critics  Theorists The Art Curator o Curator: an individual concerned with  Staging loan exhibitions  Arranging displays of museums permanent collections  Making acquisitions (buying art, securing donations of artworks from benefactors) The Art Theorist/ Art Critic o Make value judgments on works of art. o Publish in books, journals, magazines, and online. o Play an active role both in discussing art history and, directly or indirectly, affecting the trajectory of future art. o Question the value and the role of art in society. Why talk about museums in the context of public art? o Art is public based not on where it is, but on what it does. Public art encourages the development of active, engaged, and participatory citizens, a process which generally can occur only through the activism of an artist and the provocation of art. - Patricia C. Phillips Private to Public o Though art museums, in general, have always been open to the public, the audience and intent has shifted. o Old conception

temples of art, morgues for masterpieces, warehouses, primarily for academics. o New Conception  The museum as a treasure house, school, church, and a battlefield o The museum as a blend between a comfortable armchair and a fistfight o A space for academics AND the general public. Significant Developments o AIMS to increase the inclusion of the public/ increase attendance and revenues:  The advent of art education and art outreach as a museum responsibility: engaging the community directly  Free/pay-what-you-want entry days  Blockbuster exhibitions  The exhibition of pop cultural artifacts  The inclusion of highly controversial artworks  To show multiple viewpoints or to stir public interest (and thus, increase revenues)? Controversial works: o Mapplethorpe, The Perfect Moment o Chris Ofili, Holy Virgin Mary o Renee Cox, Yo Mamas Last Supper o Andres Serrano, Piss Christ Why does it matter? Cant museums show what they want to? o Museums and artists receive public funding and show their work in publicly funded venues. o One major source: the National Endowment for the Arts. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) o According to the NEAs website: The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.  2010 funding: $167,500,000 Challenges to the NEA o Ronald Reagan, 1981 o Senator Jesse Helms (R, NC)  Reaction to Piss Christ  Joined by the American Family Association and religious figures such as Pat Robertson and Pat Buchanon. o 1990, NEA Four performance artists  Artists denied funding due to the controversial nature of their work.  Challenged NEAs decision in the Supreme Court as an act of censorship and won. y National Endowment of the Arts v. Finley o Communications Director Yosi Sergant of the NEA, 2009 

Conference call urging artists to make work concerning Obamas domestic agenda. o Current challenge: Republicans new budget seeks to end NEA funding, citing the recession. y Newsweek Poll, June 1990 o Which is more important?  (75%) That adults like yourself have the right to determine what they may see and hear  (21%) That society has laws to prohibit material that may be offensive to some segments of the community y Should federal funds be used to encourage and support selected arts projects, or not? 1989 1990 42% 35% Should Should not 50% 47% 

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I will now split up students into groups to read excerpts of the Newsweek article Fine Art or Foul? Students will be given 15-20 minutes to read the article and answer the accompanying questions. We will then come back together and go through the article. Questions, Group 1

Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) How does Rev. Wildmon view Piss Christ, and what conclusion does this lead him to? How did artist Andres Serrano react? How did he try to appease critics? What have opponents of Serranos work (and anti-Christian artwork in general) done to try to strip public funding of the National Endowment of the arts? 5. What is the big question raised by the controversy? 6. Name groups and organizations who are a part of the debate. 7. What are a few other artworks/shows that are also facing the question Free-speech art or Obscenity? y 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Questions, Group 2 Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) Which stereotypes of artists does the author address in the first paragraph? Todays major battle is over the question of pornography and obscenity. What were previous critics of public art worried about? Why does the author suggest that the NEA has become such a huge target? Should artists be surprised? Is there support for the NEA and the arts in general? Besides the NEA, what are some other targets of pro-censorship evangelicals? How much has the Christian Coalition spent on anti-NEA advertisements? What is the overall message? Questions, Group 3

1. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 2. What is a major Supreme Court decision concerning free speech in the arts? What was the outcome (two major points)? 3. What real-world fact makes the obscenity argument hard to argue? 4. What are some examples of banned books and magazines the author cites? Why were they banned? (Some of the examples arent stated explicitly For these, guess.) 5. What film-rating organization does the author mention? What is the issue surrounding Xrated movies, and what does civil-liberties lawyer William Kunstler suggest? y 1. 2. 3. 4. Questions, Group 4

Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) How has the NEA chairmans opinion changed on the publicity that public art receives? What circumstances has made the NEA a particularly large political target? What is the stance of ant-NEA politicians? What have they done to scare Democrats into opposing the NEA? 5. How many grants has the NEA given out? How many of them have been deemed controversial? 6. What criticism of the NEA does the organizations chairman admit to? 7. The NEA is facing major reforms that will limit artistic freedom. What is the reaction of the NEA staff? y Questions, Group 5

1. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 2. What is the strange dynamic that the NEA is facing with its grantees? 3. Why have many artists and organizations turned down NEA funds? What does accepting funds symbolically say? 4. Are artists defending themselves against all of the recent controversies? Summarize the authors example. 5. What reaction did pro-censorship advocates fail to predict? 6. What is the final argument the author makes? y y I will poll the students to see if they think that the Piss Christ is blasphemous or offensive. If the work weve seen today is truly blasphemous in nature, is that ok? Can it still be shown in public museums? Is there other work that shows Christianity in a positive light to balance out works like this? Discussion will continue: o Do you think the NEA should continue? o Should there be a decency committee that censors potentially offensive work? We will watch a video of Sister Wendy talking about the Piss Christ. o Does this change the way you view the work at all?

Closure (5 minutes)  Together we will review: o What are three important people or positions that determine what art will be viewed in museums? o What is the art canon? o What are some ways that museums have tried to become more public? I will explain that while today we looked at artworks that led to protests by people outside of the art world, next class we will look at artists protesting things going on within the art world.

DAY 2: Teaching and Learning Sequence Introduction/ Anticipatory Set (5 minutes) y I will begin by reminding students of what we studied the previous class: o What are some ways that museums have become more public?  The advent of art education and art outreach as a museum responsibility: engaging the community directly  Free/pay-what-you-want entry days  Blockbuster exhibitions  The exhibition of pop cultural artifacts  The inclusion of highly controversial artworks  To show multiple viewpoints or to stir public interest (and thus, increase revenues)? y What were some of the works we looked at? What do they have in common? y Why does it matter if people are offended? What are legal issues affecting the showing of these artworks?

Lesson Development (80 minutes: 5 minutes for students to look back over articles, 20 discussing the articles, 30 minutes on lecture/ discussion; 25 on public art quiz) y y y I will give students five minutes at the beginning of class to review the article and answer questions. We will then come back together and go through the article. Questions, Group 1

8. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 9. How does Rev. Wildmon view Piss Christ, and what conclusion does this lead him to? 10. How did artist Andres Serrano react? How did he try to appease critics? 11. What have opponents of Serranos work (and anti-Christian artwork in general) done to try to strip public funding of the National Endowment of the arts? 12. What is the big question raised by the controversy? 13. Name groups and organizations who are a part of the debate.

14. What are a few other artworks/shows that are also facing the question Free-speech art or Obscenity? y Questions, Group 2 8. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 9. Which stereotypes of artists does the author address in the first paragraph? 10. Todays major battle is over the question of pornography and obscenity. What were previous critics of public art worried about? 11. Why does the author suggest that the NEA has become such a huge target? Should artists be surprised? 12. Is there support for the NEA and the arts in general? 13. Besides the NEA, what are some other targets of pro-censorship evangelicals? 14. How much has the Christian Coalition spent on anti-NEA advertisements? What is the overall message? y Questions, Group 3

6. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 7. What is a major Supreme Court decision concerning free speech in the arts? What was the outcome (two major points)? 8. What real-world fact makes the obscenity argument hard to argue? 9. What are some examples of banned books and magazines the author cites? Why were they banned? (Some of the examples arent stated explicitly For these, guess.) 10. What film-rating organization does the author mention? What is the issue surrounding Xrated movies, and what does civil-liberties lawyer William Kunstler suggest? y Questions, Group 4

8. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 9. How has the NEA chairmans opinion changed on the publicity that public art receives? 10. What circumstances has made the NEA a particularly large political target? 11. What is the stance of ant-NEA politicians? What have they done to scare Democrats into opposing the NEA? 12. How many grants has the NEA given out? How many of them have been deemed controversial? 13. What criticism of the NEA does the organizations chairman admit to? 14. The NEA is facing major reforms that will limit artistic freedom. What is the reaction of the NEA staff? y Questions, Group 5

7. Write a short summary of the excerpt (no more than 5 sentences) 8. What is the strange dynamic that the NEA is facing with its grantees? 9. Why have many artists and organizations turned down NEA funds? What does accepting funds symbolically say?

10. Are artists defending themselves against all of the recent controversies? Summarize the authors example. 11. What reaction did pro-censorship advocates fail to predict? 12. What is the final argument the author makes? y y I will poll the students to see if they think that the Piss Christ is blasphemous or offensive. If the work weve seen today is truly blasphemous in nature, is that ok? Can it still be shown in public museums? Is there other work that shows Christianity in a positive light to balance out works like this? Discussion will continue: o Do you think the NEA should continue? o Should there be a decency committee that censors potentially offensive work? We will then go on to the rest of the slideshow, beginning with the Degenerate Art Show in Germany, 1937 Degenerate Art Show o Label of Degenerate Art : Included nearly all Modern art.  Degenerate: having fallen below a normal or desirable level, especially in physical or moral qualities; deteriorated; degraded. o Degenerate artists were dismissed from teaching positions and were often forbidden to create art. We will watch two videos The first shows contrasts works of art that were considered degenerate and the state art of the Nazi Party. o I will ask students about the differences between the two  Degenerate art: showing a subjective experience, often showing very emotional content, contorted/abstracted bodies, art that doesnt show any figures at all, art that veers away from representation.  Nazi Art: highly idealized, showing Aryan men and women, show war as noble o I will then show footage of the Degenerate show and provide a translation of the German speech:  The goal of art is to raise ourselves towards what is beautiful and noble, to exalt that which is natural and sane. The mission of art is not to wallow in the mire, for love of the mire, to paint man in a state of decomposition, to represent maternity by those born insane, virility by deformed idiots. The mission of art is not to show man as the image of his degeneracy, but to combat that degeneracy in cultivating the eternal canons of beauty and health. In light of the show and other forms of censorship and propaganda programs in the old world, it is understandable that American artists continue to push for the rights of free speech and expression. That said, many artists are against many modernists art movements, perhaps to the point of labeling artwork to be degenerate. Today we will look at artists that are very critical of the current art establishment o While the majority of protests come from non-artist citizens, criticism of the art world and, more specifically, museums comes from artist groups:

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 The Stuckists  The Gorilla Girls The Stuckists o Group comprised of British figurative painters o Active from 1999-Present o Known primarily for protests outside of the Tate Gallery in London o Stuckist Manifesto: http://www.stuckism.com/stuckistmanifesto.html#manifest After looking through the slides, we will watch a video where a conceptual artist and a Stuckist discuss the value of their work. We will then look to the Guerilla Girls: o Founded in 1985 o Place posters all over New York City o All members are anonymous, adopting the names of dead female artists as pseudonyms. o Began focusing on the critique of art institutions, but now the GGs create work that addresses political issues beyond the art world. We will work our way through the posters and discuss them. The remaining time will be used for a quiz on the introduction to public art, American monuments, and the Olympics.

Closure (5 minutes)  Together we will review: o What was the name of the show that Adolf Hitler produced to mock modern art?  What were some properties of this art?  What kind of art was supported by the state? o Who are the Stuckists?  What are some statements in the Stuckist manifesto?  What do they object to? What kind of art do they produce? o Who is the other group we looked at?  What is their purpose or goal?  How do they go about putting up posters? What do they use as pseudonyms? I will dismiss the class, informing them that we will be looking at a brief history of modernism in the following class.

Homework  None

Formative Assessment  I will assess students understanding of the articles as they provide a summary and answer questions orally.  I will see how much knowledge students have retained from the lesson through wrap-up questions.

Summative Assessment   I will check students written responses to their article questions. Information from the lesson will be included on a future quiz.

References y y y y Newsweek: Fine Art or Foul? July 1, 1990. (http://www.newsweek.com/1990/07/01/fine-art-or-foul.html) Simon Wilson and Jessica Lack, The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms National Endowment for the Arts website (nea.org) Kammen, M. (2006). Visual shock: A history of art controversies in American culture. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Appended Materials y y Copy of Newsweek article and questions Slideshow