There is a great short story about controversial art in
museums by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About A
Boy. It's part of a collection of short stories he edited and contributed
to entitled Sleeping With The Angel, and it's called "Nipple Jesus." A
working class British bloke employed as a bouncer for a night club has a close
call one night and starts working as a security guard for an art museum. He's
not sure if he wants to be a security guard for the rest of his life, but he
knows he's a big guy and it's what he does best. His first task is to protect
the controversial piece "Nipple Jesus." From far away the image appears to be
Jesus on the cross; however, as he gets closer he realizes it's made from
thousands of nipples cut from pornographic magazines.
The rest of the story follows the exhibits opening from the
perspective of this security guard and his mixed and changing reaction to the
artwork as it becomes a major controversy.
Best,
George Garner
Director of Exhibitions
Center for History
808
West Washington, South Bend, IN 46601
--------
Celebrate Black History Month in February at the Center for
History by visiting the exhibitions, "A Free Life" and "A Nation Divided."
| Keni Sturgeon wrote:
|
| >Hello all,
|
>
| >I have two separate and slightly related questions. I have
been teaching an introduction to museums course for the past three years.
One of the assignments I have students do is research and present on a
Controversial Exhibit or an ethical dilemma. This works well when my
enrollment is down, but the course is gaining in popularity and I'm running out
of controversial exhibits. I'm wondering what exhibits members of the list
could suggest. They are covering "Enola Gay", "Sensation", and "Old Glory,
the American Flag in Contemporary Art" as well as some controversial exhibit
topics, such as sex, Mapplethorpe, and displaying nudes. What other
exhibits come to mind?
| >
| >Second, I am looking for suggestions
for museum videos. Not videos with museums, or videos by museums about
their collections/exhibits, but videos about a museum. I have one from The
Heard Museum, which is great, and I have some recordings from the PBS series
"Great Museums" (some episodes are helpful, others not so much). Any
suggestions?
| >
| >Thanks,
| >Keni Sturgeon
| >Jensen
Arctic Museum
| >Western Oregon University
| >Monmouth, OR
97361
| >
|
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Important Subscriber Information:
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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).