Art & censorship

[mojosmom]

I mentioned in a previous post that I saw David Wojnarowicz' Fire in the Belly. Tonight, there was a panel discussion at the University about the controversy, with Geoffrey Stone of the U of C Law School; Barry Blinderman, gallery director at Illinois State University, who curated a show of Wojnarowicz' work about 20 years ago; Betty Farrell of the U of C's Cultural Policy Center; and Lauren Berlant, a professor in the English Department. Quite a crowd - they needed an overflow room. As you can tell from the panelists, it was quite a wide-ranging discussion, and the audience was very engaged. I'm just sorry that Hide/Seek is closing before the BC Convention; I'd really like to have seen the show.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see the Belarus Free Theatre's Being Harold Pinter. At least we don't arrest or kill artists here.