Jay, I disagree. I would be with you on this if the sculpture were sequestered in some private space or even in a gallery with an introductory note about its content. But to say we have a choice of NOT looking? Public space is just that: public. Intrusions into public space come in many forms: light polution from urban spaces or trash strewn in the street, for example, are not the same a television which you must turn on to engage. In order to decide that you DON'T want to look at something like a public sculpture, you would have to see it first, even if your decision not to look appears instantaneous, you would have to absorb enough visual information to make a decision not to continue looking. The issue here is not the merit of the work, but its placement as part of the public landscape. Your posting raises another red-flag issue for me: your suggestion that we "tune out" our surroundings. This ability to turn off the visual is not a skill we--as a species--should be cultivating. We have lost so much as it is (can you imagine having to see and quickly perceive danger in the wild? a subtle rustle of leaves could spell doom to a human who is not paying attention to the visual environment. Our culture so poorly serves the visual now, should we become even more skilled at this, we will certainly lose a measure of our humanity. Anna ...I understand where you're coming from. But no-one MUST look at public sculpture. Similarly, no one MUST read billboards, watch television, or listen to public address announcements. People in our hurried society tune out their surroundings all the time. Maybe that's the problem!? To each his own . . . Jay Heuman Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator Joslyn Art Museum 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102 342-3300 (telephone) 342-2376 (fax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anna Fariello, Curatorial InSight, Box 505, Christiansburg VA 24068 www.curatorialinsight.com; 540-382-3946; [log in to unmask] Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA 24061-0227 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).