Showing posts with label arts reporting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts reporting. Show all posts
Friday, 1 August 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
The Bill Henson thing
One of the interesting aspects of the furore over the seizure of photographs by Bill Henson due to open in an exhibition at Roslyn Oxley's gallery in Sydney last week is that 'art experts' seem to be getting some space in the media coverage.
[The photos were seized by police after complaints from members of the public of child pornography. A column by Miranda Devine in the SMH put Henson's work squarely into the context of child sexualisation; PM Kevin Rudd denounced the photos as "revolting". The seizure has raised discussions about art censorship in Australia, and the RO9 Gallery is getting phone threats. Their site is still offline]
AGNSW curator Judy Annear
Former NGA director Betty Churcher
'Artists jump to Henson's defense' (oddly, no visual artists are quoted, but hey)
Anna Schwartz describes the seizure as a 'dark day for Australian culture'; her daughter recalls posing as a child for Henson (not nude though)
And the ever-popular vox-pop: Punters at the AGNSW have their say
Credit has to go to Defamer.com.au: Why Are They Getting So Mad At That Dude From The Muppets? We Thought Kids Loved Him?
Meanwhile, Outpost (the AAG blog) was the first to talk about the story in NZ, with Sarah Eades making a comparison to the criticism the Gallery received at the time of Robert Leonard's 'Mixed Up Childhood' show.
UPDATE: I forgot I meant to link to a recent discussion on Ed Winkleman's blog, about 'Exhibition spaces responsibilities with regards to potentially offensive material'. Interesting comments.
[The photos were seized by police after complaints from members of the public of child pornography. A column by Miranda Devine in the SMH put Henson's work squarely into the context of child sexualisation; PM Kevin Rudd denounced the photos as "revolting". The seizure has raised discussions about art censorship in Australia, and the RO9 Gallery is getting phone threats. Their site is still offline]
AGNSW curator Judy Annear
Former NGA director Betty Churcher
'Artists jump to Henson's defense' (oddly, no visual artists are quoted, but hey)
Anna Schwartz describes the seizure as a 'dark day for Australian culture'; her daughter recalls posing as a child for Henson (not nude though)
And the ever-popular vox-pop: Punters at the AGNSW have their say
Credit has to go to Defamer.com.au: Why Are They Getting So Mad At That Dude From The Muppets? We Thought Kids Loved Him?
Meanwhile, Outpost (the AAG blog) was the first to talk about the story in NZ, with Sarah Eades making a comparison to the criticism the Gallery received at the time of Robert Leonard's 'Mixed Up Childhood' show.
UPDATE: I forgot I meant to link to a recent discussion on Ed Winkleman's blog, about 'Exhibition spaces responsibilities with regards to potentially offensive material'. Interesting comments.
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