On Sunday, December 19, 2010, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest the Smithsonian Institution's decision to remove David Wojnarowicz's video The Fire in My Belly from the Hide/Seek Exhibit. The protesters marched from the Metropolitan to the Cooper Hewitt Museum, a branch of the Smithsonian. The march was organized by Art+. For [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship signed onto a letter circulated among U.S. government officials urging restraint in the aftermath of WikiLeaks. The letter was signed by 30 organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, New America Foundation, among others.
NCAC joined more than 30 other free speech and open government groups in applauding the decision by the National Archives and Records Administration to re-open an investigation into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes recording torture session at “black sites” around the world.
The familiar "he said/ she said" binary so beloved of the media has shaped the controversy over LA MOCA's whitewashing of a political mural as an opposition between those who define it as censorship and those who define it as sensitivity. Here is the LA Times: “Censorship,” some cry, referring to Deitch’s removal of Blu’s antiwar mural on the north [...]
This Sunday, Dec 19th, hundreds of artists, curators, queer and free speech activists, as well as other supporters of free speech gathered in front of Metropolitan Museum to take part in a rally demanding that the Smithsonian return the censored video by artist David Wojnarowicz, “A Fire In My Belly,” to the National Portrait Gallery’s Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in [...]
A mural announcing LA MOCA’s upcoming Art in the Streets exhibition, a survey of street art over the past four decades, was painted over - upon orders from the Museum - shortly after it appeared on December 8th. Was this an act of censorship or an exercise of legitimate curatorial control? The answer may depend on your definition of both terms.
Stop the Censorship! Put the Wojnarowicz video back! Protest in New York City - Sunday, December 19th, 1:00 PM (details below) Send a message to the Smithsonian Institution and all of its museums: Stop the Censorship. Late in November the Smithsonian's head, G. Wayne Clough, did something unconscionable and shocking - he ordered the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC [...]
The NCAC wrote this letter in response to a parent's challenge. Dr. Susan Watne Review Committee for Helena Public Schools Helena, Montana mailto:[email protected] Dear Dr. Watne and Members of the Review Committee for Helena Public Schools, We write concerning the challenge to Sherman Alexie’s acclaimed novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We understand [...]
NCAC wrote this letter expressing concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of To Kill A Mockingbird. Superintendent Flagler County Public Schools 1769 East Moody Blvd. Bunnell FL 32110 mailto:[email protected] November 12, 2010 Dear Superintendent Valentine, We write to express concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of [...]
LA MOCA, newly headed by New York transplant Jeffrey Deitch, whitewashed a mural painted by internationally known street artist BLU. The mural, originally commissioned by MOCA for their upcoming Art in the Street exhibit, faces the Veterans Administration healthcare building on Temple Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
We join our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their concern that the Wikileaks-provoked debate about the secrecy of government information and the people's right to know has recently turned into a massive attack on the right of Internet intermediaries to publish truthful information.
Censorship incidents on the web are more and more common, but it's still rare when they happen to an anti-censorship organization like the NCAC. Network Solutions, a company providing web services, has threatened to remove TheFileroom.org, an interactive archive of worldwide censorship cases administered by the National Coalition Against Censorship, unless a photograph of two naked children by Nan Goldin, [...]
The New York Library Association awarded the National Coalition Against Censorship the 2010 NYLA/SirsiDynix Intellectual Freedom Award. The award is given to an individual or organization that has demonstrated a commitment to, and taken action, to further the cause of intellectual freedom in the state of New York.
This is from an attendant at the protest organized by Transformer on Thursday, Dec. 2nd: The protest's silence was very effective. The rows standing mute along the entire width of north steps of the Portrait Gallery for about 25 minutes until the museum closed at 7:00 was eloquent and impactful in a way beyond the quantity of supporters or passion [...]
Victory: the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD will be staged in the auditorium on February 24, 25, and 26 (two shows). It will be staged AS WRITTEN! The production was canceled last month by the school's principal, who was concerned about the use of the word "nigger" by characters in the play.
If David Wojnarowicz were alive to witness his video, Fire in the Belly, attacked by the Catholic League and removed from the National Portrait Gallery, he probably would not have been surprised. Wojnarowicz’s work received its share of controversy during the culture wars of 1989-90. His essay Postcards from America: X-rays From Hell caused National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) [...]
Yesterday (Nov 30th), in response to complaints from the Catholic League and several Republican representatives the National Portrait Gallery decided to remove Fire in My Belly, a video by multimedia artist David Wojnarowicz. The video was part of Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, an exhibition exploring issues of sexuality and specifically gay sexuality (thought the official description of [...]
