Artist Samia Halaby speaking on self-censorship.
Halaby made these comments for a special internet video project organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Decency Clause.
Invited artists are videotaping their responses to the following questions:
1. What are or should be the taboos honored by cultural institutions?
2. Why should public funds be spent to support artwork that might offend some segment(s) of the general public?
3. In the U.S., as well as in a number of other countries, it seems that (self)censorship is often exerted in the name of “concern for the community.” Is that the case in your experience?
4. What alternative institutional models are emerging in your country in the face of restrictive conditions attached to public funding?