Challenging art is essential for sparking difficult conversations, but two museum directors — both women — have recently stepped down after championing politically engaged programming.
art controversies
Posted inArt
The Story of a Pope Portrait Made Out of Condoms
MILWAUKEE — It’s not unusual for a work of art to cause outrage, especially if it dips into the tender zones of race, gender, or religion.
Posted inNews
Official Resigns, Contract Withdrawn in Houston Public Art Fiasco
A major art commission in Houston has been suddenly placed on hold, prompting the resignation of a director at the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) and causing an outcry in the city’s art community, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Posted inOpinion
What Should the Smithsonian Do with Its Show of Bill Cosby’s Art Collection?
As rape allegations against Bill Cosby have continue to emerge this week, with a fifth and sixth woman stepping forward to publicly accuse the iconic comedian, the backlash has been swift. But Cosby’s collaboration with the art establishment remains alive and well.
Posted inNews
Protesters Call for Cancelation of Performance Dramatizing Colonial Racism [UPDATED]
A theatrical performance art piece scheduled to run at the Barbican in London later this month has become the subject of a protest, with 14,881 people (as of this writing) signing an online petition calling on the performing arts center to cancel the show.
Posted inOpinion
Does a Sculpture of Hitler Belong in the Warsaw Ghetto?
Whether art still has the power to disrupt, offend, and shock is a well-worn topic in the art world. Many of us take it for granted that, as Jennifer Schuessler wrote this past fall in the New York Times, “Shock long ago went mainstream.” At heart, though, the question concerns not just an artwork but also its context, and in our day and age, one sometimes gets the sense that context might be everything. Consider this: a statue of Hitler is currently on display in the former Warsaw Ghetto, courtesy of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
Posted inArt
Poster Boy Is Subject of Panel this Saturday
This Saturday, January 28, the multidisciplinary arts organization Real Art Ways will present a panel discussion on the controversy surrounding collage street artist Poster Boy, aka Henry Matyjewicz.
Posted inArt
15 New York Art World-ers on Art Controversies Today
With “sensitive to art and its discontents” written into the blogazine’s sub-header, Hyperallergic is no strange to contemporary art controversy, but we decided to ask 11 New York-based artists, critics and curators what they considers the most important and urgent controversy in visual art at the moment.