|
New Art Examiner, April 1989
Photograph Censored in Chicago
A photograph by Chicago artist Joe Ziolkowski was recently censored in
the context of the "Caught in a Revolving Door" exhibit in the
lobby of the 200 N. LaSalle St. building in Chicago. The exhibit, sponsored
by the alumni association of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
(SAIC), was curated by artists and SAIC alumni Joe Cavalier and Tony Tasset
for a temporarily vacant lobby space donated to SAIC by the owners of the
building, Miglin-Beitler Developments, Inc. Ziolkowski, one of the nine
artists in the exhibition, was represented by two photographs from his "Beyond
Boundaries" series of four, each of which features two nude men, with
either one of both figures suspended against a white background.
Shortly after the show was installed in the glassed-in space, which is
viewable from both the street and the lobby, some of the tenants complained
about one of Ziolkowski's photographs-Beyond Boundaries #3, in which two
nude men embrace. The figures in the image are suspended from ropes at
their ankles, but the image is hung so that they appear to float upright.
Two days before the opening, Miglin-Beitler contacted the alumni association
and asked that either the work be removed or the show come down. After
negotiations which included the artist and curators, a compromise was reached
according to which the photograph would remain in the exhibit and be censored:
the piece was wrapped in paper and next to it was placed a small tag, which
stated, "covered from public view at the request of the management."
Ziolkowski's other photograph, in which two male figures are nude but
not touching, was not singled out (nor were complaints leveled against Nancy
Bardawil's realistic sculpture of a nude, emaciated woman) prompting Ziolkowski
to comment, "I was really surprised that they had one of the prints
viewable and the other one covered. To me that meant the reaction was homophobic-they
were afraid to have the two men holding each other, but it was okay to see
two men naked."
|