UPDATE: VICTORY! Pepperdine University Censors Student’s Art
Pepperdine University is refusing to display an art student's works alongside her peers because the works depict nudity.
NCAC Calls for Open Forum to Discuss San Francisco Murals
NCAC proposes holding an open forum where GWHS students can talk about how they see and interpret the Arnautoff murals. We invite the San Francisco Board of Education to collaborate with us in presenting the forum.
San Francisco High School May Destroy Historical Murals
NCAC urges the school to consider the serious, irreversible ramifications of destroying thirteen WPA murals at George Washington High School.
Smart Tactics: Curating Difficult Content
SMART TACTICS: Curating Difficult Content examines the internal and external pressures curators must navigate when considering potentially controversial material. Combining decades of advocacy experience with extensive interviews and curatorial surveys, this volume includes both a report on what happens behind the scenes in art institutions and a handbook for confronting the challenges of curating difficult content.
University of Kentucky Unveils Installation to Encourage Dialogue about Race
The University of Kentucky has unveiled a new site-specific public artwork by Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier, commissioned in response to a heated controversy around a fresco that students said was traumatizing, creating a model for balancing conflict and tensions around campus art.
NJ Museum Cites Unconstitutional Legal Principle in Ejecting Artist from Show/ UPDATE: Decision Reversed
The Belskie Museum of Art in northern New Jersey has ejected an invited artist from its exhibit for painting on US flags.
5Pointz Decision Establishes Stature for Graffiti Artists
In a landmark case heard in Federal district court in Brooklyn, a judge has ruled that a New York real estate developer must pay millions in damages to a group of 21 graffiti artists to compensate for destroying their work under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA).
NCAC Applauds The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Refusal to Remove Painting
More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the removal of a Balthus painting in response to “the current climate around sexual assault and allegations that become more public each day.” The Met has refused to remove the work.
NCAC Condemns Government Policy Depriving Americans of Access to Art by Guantanamo Detainees
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) vehemently objects to the violation of the public’s right to access art by Guantanamo detainees and thus fully participate in the political conversation around Guantanamo. The new directive also violates the human rights of the detainees under international norms and further destruction of the work would impermissibly suppress documents of historical importance.
John Sims: “Confederate Flag: A Public Hanging” at Ohio University and the Kennedy Museum of Art
Johns Sims was finally able to present his work, "Confederate Flag: A Public Hanging", after years of forced adaptation and abridgment.
Censored on Campus: Paul Rucker’s Exhibition on Race in America
Paul Rucker's traveling exhibition REWIND, an urgently relevant multi-media installation that addresses the history of racial injustice in America, was closed to the public by York College of Pennsylvania, less than one week into its run. Paul sat down with NCAC to discuss the incident.
Threats of Violence are Chilling our Public Sphere
Every time threats of violence succeed in silencing expression, our public sphere is impoverished and even more polarized.
Reclaiming the Native American Swastika Symbol: An Interview with Steven Leyba
In August, Artspace, a non-profit organization that manages spaces around the country where artists live and work, ordered the removal of an exhibition from the lobby of its property in Everett, Washington. The exhibition contained works by one of its residents, Steven Leyba, an artist of Native American and Jewish descent. Some of the works in the exhibition featured the swastika [...]
NCAC Demands Artspace Restore Artwork Featuring Native American Swastika Symbols
Artist Steven Leyba was ordered to remove his paintings despite the fact he was using the symbol to reclaim its original significance in Native American culture.
Demands to Cancel Dana Schutz’s ICA Exhibit Don’t Help the Cause for Social Justice
Efforts to blacklist an artist over a controversial painting are not conducive to the goal of overcoming racial inequity.
A Dispatch from documenta 14: An International Art Exhibition in Which Book Censorship Plays a Central Role
documenta 14, an art festival occurring every 5 years, puts the issue of book censorship front and center this year.
Walker Art Center’s Jimmie Durham Controversy: Listening Points the Way Forward
The discussion has brought to light the enduring lack of representation of Native artists in the art historical canon, in art museum exhibitions and in collections. However, it has also shown us a way forward.
NCAC Responds to Walker Art Center’s Statement Affirming Decision to Dismantle Controversial Sculpture
The Walker Art Center has responded to our criticism arguing "NCAC has placed undue emphasis on the work’s material structure over its concept." Read our new response.
NCAC Releases Statement Criticizing Walker Art Center’s Decision to Destroy Controversial Sculpture; UPDATE: Sculpture to be Ceremonially Buried
NCAC has issued a statement signed by several national and international organizations, opposing the Walker's decision to dismantle and destroy the controversial sculpture.
New Essay by NCAC’s Director of Programs Sheds More Light on the ‘Culture of Outrage’ Debate
Mintcheva's essay examines and argues for the value of free expression in light of recent controversies over art and racially sensitive content, as well as over cultural appropriation, which have left people to question the usefulness of an absolutist defense of free speech.
How a Culture of Outrage Around Politically Engaged Art Endangers Our Public Sphere
While critiquing or protesting artworks is a vital part of a healthy democratic society, cultural institutions who bow to demands to remove or destroy works that engage with contentious political or social issues endanger our ability to maintain a public sphere where ideas and societal problems can be freely identified and discussed.
NCAC + Lambda Legal Request Tennessee School Apologize for Removing pro-LGBT Student Artwork
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and Lambda Legal are calling on a Tennessee high school to apologize for removing a displayed student artwork featuring the word “GAYDOM” and a rainbow motif. The groups demand the drawing be immediately restored, arguing that the school’s justification for the removal-- that some students were offended by the artwork-- violates the student artist’s First Amendment rights.
Judge Upholds Removal of Controversial Student Painting from U.S. Capitol; Appeal Planned
The message government is communicating appears to be that young people's opinions concerning such issues are not respected and don't matter.
An Art Career Intertwined with Censorship: The Murals of Mike Alewitz
A profile of muralist Mike Alewitz describes how his radical politics infuses his work and left him open to many incidents of censorship.
NCAC’s Primer On The Whitney Biennial Controversy: A Timely and Necessary Exchange
In the aftermath of the Whitney Biennial controversy, NCAC has aggregated the best commentary and opinions on the fraught but necessary incident.
Maryland School District Censors American Diversity Posters for ‘anti-Trump’ Bias
The posters were deemed to break the school's policy that forbids classroom materials that attempt to sway the political opinions of students.
Black History Month Art Exhibition Removed From School Admin. Offices; UPDATE: NCAC & ACLU Urge District to Immediately Restore Exhibit
An exhibition of artworks celebrating Black History Month was removed from display in a San Jose School district building after complaints calling the works offensive.
New Report Catalogs Attacks on Artistic Freedom Around The World in 2016
The number of cases registered in 2016 more than doubled the amount registered in 2015, an increase of 119%, which translates to an extra 469 attacks.
NCAC Responds to American University Museum’s Removal of Controversial Sculpture; UPDATE: NCAC Advises AU Museum on Strategies to Avoid Future Controversy
American University Museum in Washington D.C. flubbed its approach to a controversial sculpture after it claimed it did not want the message of the sculpture to be deemed the institution's own.
Missouri Congressman Defends Student Painting Attacked for Animal Depiction of Police; UPDATE: Without Permission, Rep. Lawmaker Removes Painting
Representative Clay has stood in support of artistic free expression in the face of criticisms that the painting contains an anti-police message.
NCAC Criticizes Indiana High School for Removing Pro-Life Artwork
NCAC’s letter informs Carmel Clay Schools that the pro-life poster represents non-disruptive political speech that is protected under the First Amendment.
Museum Hosting Political Art Exhibit Quarantines Works Overtly Critical of Trump
The Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania chose to move works with a clear anti-Trump message to a separate gallery nearby.
With NCAC Help, Artist Successfully Reverses Corporation’s Objections to Black Lives Matter Artwork
While private corporations have the legal right to set conditions on their rentals, artists and small alternative art venues such as 50/50 need to push back against their total control of public space.
Dealing with Difficult Art in Post-Election America at Salem State U.
An artwork depicting the Ku Klux Klan, intended to make a statement about post-election U.S.A, was labeled "hate speech" by students at Salem State U.
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Responds to Public Outcry Over Racially Charged Art
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis keeps the conversation going as it responds to anger over racially-charged works in the Kelley Walker exhibition.
Artist Sues California After Local Art Fair Bans Painting With Confederate Flag
A California law that bans the state from selling or buying the Confederate flag may have unintended consequences on freedom of expression.
Artists Know Your Rights, An Interview About NCAC’s Latest Resource
Artist's Rights is a comprehensive new website designed to help artist's understand their legal rights when faced with censorship. NCAC's Arts Advocacy Program speaks to Creative Capital about the project.
Detroit Artists Face Felony Charges for Protest Graffiti; UPDATE: Artists Reach Out of Court Settlement
Antonio Cosme and William Lucka face a $75,000 fine and four years in prison for protesting the water cut offs in Detroit by graffitiing a Highland Park water tower.
Uni. of Wisconsin-Stout Moves to Censor Paintings of First Nations People; UPDATE: Chancellor Modifies Course, Paintings to be Relocated
The University's Diversity Leadership Team expressed concern the painting's colonial subject matter would reinforce racial stereotypes.
Comic Strip Pulled Over ISIS Reference
A nationally syndicated comic strip was censored because of a harmless reference to ISIS. But why do cartoons so frequently provoke overreactions?