Anita writes: > >The question is now if the exhibit should be allowed to continue for the next >two months (it is scheduled through June). The Phoenix Art Museum is supported >by public donations, but also by the City of Phoenix. The question is, if the >city pulls the plug, will it be an act of censorship? It would be censorship. Realistically, I think there is sometimes little difference between the objectives of curatorial discretion and the objectives of censorship, but the boundary between the two is very clear: it is the opening day of an exhibition. When organizing an exhibition curators make many decisions about including or not including certain works and those decisions are sometimes made to avoid controversy. Such decisions made on the near side of the opening day boundary are curatorial. On the far side of that boundary, any attempt to re-curate an exhibit under the pressure of controversy is censorship. If the City of Phoenix wants to have the prestige of an art museum then it must accept that art museums sometimes bring controversy. If it wants to avoid controversy then it should get into the business of curating the museum's exhibits itself. After-the-fact it must stand behind the museum's curatorial decisions or engage in censorship by interfering with them. BTW, isn't this the same show that blew-up at the Chicago Art Institute a few years ago? Stephen Nowlin, Vice President Director, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery Art Center College of Design 1700 Lida Street Pasadena, California 91103 USA (818)396-2397vox (818)405-9104fax [log in to unmask]