Slog

News & Arts

The Stranger Suggests

Critics' Best Bets
Music Arts & Food

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

  |  

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Visual Art New EMP Director Is the One Who Canceled the Mapplethorpe Show in DC All Those Years Ago

Posted by on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 11:12 AM

I knew I remembered something attached to her name but a reader of Tyler Green's sussed it out.

 

Comments (25) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
Ooh, that's not good. That's not good at all.
Posted by Fnarf on March 25, 2009 at 11:17 AM
2
maybe she has learned from her error. maybe she is determined to be more daring and cutting-edge than thou as a result of getting canned in disgrace 20 years ago. perhaps you'll find yourself reeling back in shock at the out-there stuff she lets fly in her new museum. we shall see.
Posted by ellarosa on March 25, 2009 at 11:26 AM
3
good for her
Posted by good on March 25, 2009 at 11:32 AM
4
@2. let's hope so.
Posted by boxofbirds on March 25, 2009 at 11:33 AM
5
I'd like to see an apology and a public admission of wrong-doing, though. The Mapplethorpe incident was the signal art controversy of the 80s, even more so than "Piss Christ". The ugly head of Jesse Helms raises up again.
Posted by Fnarf on March 25, 2009 at 11:33 AM
6
There's an episode of The Fresh Prince just like this. Will's cool teacher wants to take the class to the Mapplethorpe show and gets in trouble with the principal. Will stands up against censorship. I'm just saying.
Posted by Skip on March 25, 2009 at 11:37 AM
7
as if we needed more reasons not to go to EMP
Posted by not a troll on March 25, 2009 at 11:43 AM
8
@2:

This is EMP we're talking about here - not exactly noted for it's committment to bleeding-edge art, unless one now considers exhibitions of 40 year-old block printed posters, and Walt Disney soundtracks the "new avant guard".
Posted by COMTE on March 25, 2009 at 11:46 AM
9
What is an "avant guard"? "Hey, you, kids! You better stop being weird over there!"
Posted by levide on March 25, 2009 at 12:05 PM
10
Bob Mapplethorpe, potential get-away driver: go!
Posted by dignan on March 25, 2009 at 12:12 PM
11
Let's face it, the EMP is to museums as Geraldo Rivera is to investigative journalism. Given the EMP's credibility, or rather lack of it as a museum at all this seems to be an appropriate match. They probably had a lot of trouble attracting any really impressive candidates for the job.
Posted by Inkweary on March 25, 2009 at 12:12 PM
12
This means WAR!
Posted by Aqua Regia on March 25, 2009 at 12:27 PM
13
Does this mean an exhibit of Jimi's guitars covered in pee is out? 'Cause I was waiting...
Posted by Cracker Jack on March 25, 2009 at 12:37 PM
14
I think "avant guard" means Dennis Rodman. No, wait, he was a forward. Spud Webb maybe?

Yes, I am old.
Posted by Fnarf on March 25, 2009 at 12:44 PM
15
D'oh!

*Smacks forehead*
Posted by COMTE on March 25, 2009 at 1:45 PM
16
@9 & @14

Avant Guard:

http://www.marine.forces.ca/mspa_images/…
Posted by Jason Zape on March 25, 2009 at 1:49 PM
17
Have any of y'all spent any extended period of time looking at Mapplethorpe's photos? They're not very good!
A young guy earnestly taking photos of his schlong. Sometimes while he's in a sexy harness thing! Some photos are well-composed. But there's not much to reflect upon.

That doesn't mean that he should've been censored. It just means it's not very good art!
Posted by just sayin' on March 25, 2009 at 2:18 PM
18
OK, now is it OK to say fuck EMP? Seriously.

I was all of about 10 years old, totally straight and disinterested in photography when she censored Mapplethorpe. I was also at that young age quite sure I was an artist and that I loved the 1st amendment. 10 years old an already outraged at censorship.

It hasn't cooled any in 25+ years or however long ago that all happened. The only joy in knowing that this person will be in close proximity is in the prospect of calling her an idiot to her face.
Posted by Ughhh...EMP? Don't Get ME Started. on March 25, 2009 at 2:40 PM
19
And for this woman we're building a Billionaires' Tunnel from the EMP/SFM and Gates Foundation direct to the Sports stadiums and private jets at Boeing Field?

And making people in Ballard take 5-10 minutes longer to get downtown?
Posted by Will in Seattle on March 25, 2009 at 2:41 PM
20
The salary is 300k+ and this is all they can get. Sad.
Posted by They should have hired me! on March 25, 2009 at 2:46 PM
21
A young guy earnestly taking photos of his schlong. Sometimes while he's in a sexy harness thing! Some photos are well-composed. But there's not much to reflect upon.

What about the one with a bullwhip hanging out of his ass? A masterpiece!

But I don't think quality is the issue here...
Posted by kitschnsync on March 25, 2009 at 2:50 PM
22
@17: she didn't pull down the Mapplethorpe show because she didn't think the photos were bad art.

Maybe you're too young to remember, but the whole Mapplethorpe incident wasn't about any photos; it was about the seep of Reaganism into the art world, at a time when at first that didn't seem possible. Now, of course, we're used to it -- there are kooks freaking out over "immoral art" all over the place, and it even has a name -- "the culture wars". But in the 80s, it was new, and it was about choosing sides -- Mapplethorpe stood for sex, and gay, and AIDS funding, and art, all mingled together; his opponents were against all of those things, in equal measure. Art that didn't measure up morally was every bit as bad as having an AIDS-infected pervert rub his filthy business all over you.

What was sad was that there was no room for opinions like "Mapplethorpe's photos aren't very good". You really did have to choose sides. And the side SHE chose was with Jesse Helms; she chose against art -- not just bad art, or naughty art, but all art. There is no possible way she could have not understood this at the time.

Now, we have the luxury of subtlety, and you can not like Mapplethorpe if you don't want to. Deliberately confrontational art like his doesn't get an automatic hearing anymore; it doesn't need it. Everybody knows what the arguments are.

She knows all this, and she needs to address her actions. Was she afraid? Did she actually side with Jesse Helms on philosophical grounds, or did she just cave in a moment of weakness? Has she changed her mind? The fact that she was forced out of that job afterwards creates some serious doubt as to her suitability.

I'm not saying she should be shit-canned. I'm just saying there are some questions here that need to be answered.
More...
Posted by Fnarf on March 25, 2009 at 3:28 PM
23
She's gonna have her work cut out for her at EMP, trying to find something controversial enough to cancel in that ugly tomb of boredom and half-assedness. Hell, she'll be grasping at straws just to find something noteworthy to cancel.
Posted by Explorer on March 25, 2009 at 3:34 PM
24
Would anyone expect anything less from Jodi & Paul? EMP jumped the shark YEARS ago, even before Bob Santelli left the position. No one cares.
Posted by Yawn. on March 25, 2009 at 3:38 PM
25
Well, it's nice she's finally found a job where she can never again exert any cultural influence, whatsoever.
Posted by NapoleonXIV on March 25, 2009 at 10:05 PM

Add a comment

Advertisement
 

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC
1535 11th Ave (Third Floor), Seattle, WA 98122
Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Takedown Policy