Under pressure The Smithsonian Institution removed a 4-minute excerpted video piece from the critically acclaimed exhibition Hide/Seek at the National Portrait Gallery. The bullies, the Catholic League, Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. John Boehner. Their objection, the video includes footage of ants crawling all over a crucifix that they deemed anti-Christian. Read this article, Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian, by New York Times’ Frank Rich, it will give you a good picture of what had transpired and give you links to many more voices.
As a form of protest, we decided to screen “A Fire in My Belly” by the late artist David Wojnarowicz at the gallery starting last week on Art Walk day. (Read about the video and the artist.) We have 2 versions of Wojnarowicz’s work, a 13-minute version that was the last known work in progress from Wojnarowicz, and a 7-minute version that was found after the artist’s death. We have the videos playing continuously during gallery hours in the reception area, and will continue to screen them until Sunday, December 19th. The 19th also marks the 24th anniversary of the death of CB’s brother who died of AIDS. (Read a little story about our screening of the video.)
Check HIDESEEK.ORG for a listing of screening events in other parts of the world. Here are some photos I took during Downtown L.A. Art Walk.
