[log in to unmask] writes:
" I don't get worked up about desecrating the flag, but I do get worked
   up about bad art.  And I am particularly concerned that the museum
   community is losing its credibility by making hard and fast
   commitments to protect *any* sort of artistic expression.  Can't we be
   discriminating?  Can't we say that some stuff, even if it is
   provocative, is just dopey?  Or is provocation itself now an artistic
   virtue, so that the more provoking a piece is, the more it is worthy
   of being considered art?"

Actually, artists I have talked with feel the museum community has not had a
great record on freedom of expression issues. I tended not to agree with
them, but am starting to think I need to reconsider. If all that "art
student-y", provacative work "just went away", where do you think the work
representing "previously neglected viewpoints" is going to come from?

Margaret Pezalla