It's wonderful and heartwarming (among other bits of one's anatomy) to know that the entire nation is not sunk in religiosity, jingoism, and terror. May Mr. Whittington and the Lannan Foundation continue to dance cheek to cheek! AK
allen bukoff wrote: > in the email today... > > >+ museum of se[x] > >+ collections news > >+ 7.02.02 > > > >THE MUSEUM OF SEX ACQUIRES WHITTINGTON COLLECTION, HARMONY THEATRE > >ARTIFACTS, CONTEMPORARY AND EXPERIMENTAL ART FOR PERMANENT COLLECTION > > > >New York � The Museum of Sex, (www.museumofsex.com), opening on September > >23, with its inaugural exhibition, NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed > >Sex in America (http://nycsex.museumofsex.com) has acquired numerous pieces > >from varied sources for its permanent collection. > > > >Additionally, the museum has named three non-profit organizations who will > >derive a percentage of proceeds from the museum�s inaugural exhibition: > >ACRIA (AIDS Community Research Initiative of America), The Kinsey Institute > >for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction and The Lesbian Herstory > >Archives. > > > >THE COLLECTION > > > >Ralph Whittington > > > >Ralph Whittington, who recently retired after a 36-year career with the > >Library of Congress, began to acquire and archive erotic materials more > >than three decades ago. "Ralph Whittington began to collect at the very > >moment explicit pornography was being made available to a mass audience," > >says Museum of Sex curator Grady Turner. "There was no way of predicting > >how that market would progress, but Mr. Whittington was attuned to each new > >development. The result is a uniquely comprehensive archive of commercial > >heterosexual pornography." > > > >Since picking up a pocket-sized magazine on a second-grade school trip to > >Baltimore, Mr. Whittington has known of his interest in the subject. He has > >amassed a collection that includes more than 400 8-millimeter films, 700 > >videos, 1,500 magazines, 200 books, industry-related news clips, calendars, > >posters, and artifacts such as blow-up dolls, bawdy house coins, erotic > >novelties, artificial genitalia, erotic records and women�s high heels. > >Considered a thorough and diligent archivist, Mr. Whittington has assembled > >a collection that charts changing social mores about the production, > >distribution and consumption of sexually explicit materials. > > > >Mr. Whittington made the public aware of his collection twenty years ago > >and has considered offering it to the Library of Congress or the Museum of > >Modern Art. He now believes the Museum of Sex to be the most appropriate > >repository for his life's work. �I was happy to come out of my �collector > >closet� 20 years ago, which I found to be both beneficial to me and the > >collection for the purposes of acquiring additional and varied materials. > >I am delighted that my collection has found a permanent home in the > >Museum,� says Ralph Whittington. The museum has acquired the entire > >Whittington Collection and will use select items for its inaugural > >exhibition in September. > > > >The Harmony Theatre > > > >The Harmony Theatre, previously known as the Melody Burlesk, was an > >establishment located at Broadway and 48th Street in Manhattan in the 1980s > >that paid tribute to the art of striptease and popularized such innovations > >as lap dancing. > > > >A central Times Square gathering place for international porn stars, exotic > >dancers, and their fans, the Harmony played host to a number of well-known > >performers. Featured stars included Tina Russell, Tempest Storm, Mai Ling, > >Veronica Hart, Samantha Fox, among others. Annie Sprinkle performed at the > >Harmony numerous times throughout its history and debuted her performance > >art piece �Post Porn Modernist� there in 1989. > > > >On any given day, customers could interact with more than one hundred > >dancers in the theater; eighty percent of their clientele was repeat. > >Alcohol was not served in the theater, which did not diminish its > >popularity. Dozens of customers were turned away daily from the Harmony > >due to capacity crowds. > > > >The theater closed in Times Square in the late 1980s and moved to Tribeca > >before closing to customers for good in 1998. A number of artifacts from > >the theater, including promotional signs, decorations and costumes, are in > >the museum�s collection. > > > >The Lannan Foundation > > > >The Lannan Foundation, based in New Mexico, is a family foundation > >dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity and creativity through projects > >which support contemporary artists and writers, as well as inspired Native > >activists in rural indigenous communities. In its recognition of the value > >of the creative process, the foundation is willing to take risks and to > >make substantial investments in ambitious and experimental thinking. The > >foundation is particularly interested in projects that encourage freedom of > >inquiry, imagination and expression. > > > >Nineteen pieces have been donated to the museum from The Lannan Foundation, > >including works by William Fielding Miles Forst, Gerald Gooch, Scott > >Miller, Milo Riece, Anita Steckel, T. Verries and Louis Renzoni. > > > >THE BENEFICIARIES > > > >ACRIA > > > >The AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA) was incorporated > >in December 1991 by a group of physicians, activists, and people living > >with AIDS (PLWAs) who were discouraged by the restraints and red tape > >debilitating government and academic AIDS research efforts. Under the > >leadership of the medical community's foremost AIDS practitioners and > >researchers, the group set out to create an agency which would bring > >activism to the ever-urgent task of studying AIDS-related illness and > >treatment. > > > >ACRIA's status as an independent, not-for-profit clinical research and > >education organization has uniquely qualified it to evaluate drugs and > >treatments that for-profit groups lack the financial incentive to explore. > >Further, when late-breaking information becomes available, ACRIA has been > >able to quickly adapt its research initiatives at a much faster pace than > >large academic and government groups. As a result, ACRIA has consistently > >completed preliminary studies of new drugs within months, rather than > >years. The agency has not only conducted many trials that have identified > >new uses of existing therapies for treating HIV patients, but has also > >contributed to the FDA approval of seven new AIDS treatments. Among the > >first protease inhibitors and nucleoside transcriptase inhibitors were > >tested at ACRIA's clinic. > > > >ACRIA is also a leading provider of HIV treatment education in New York > >City and across the United States. Each year, the agency's staff inform > >over 7,000 PLWAs and their care givers about the latest advances in HIV > >health care through group treatment workshops, individual treatment > >education sessions, and large community treatment forums. Nearly 240 well > >established community-based organizations citywide have partnered with > >ACRIA to bring information on the newest HIV health care advances to their > >PLWA clients within multiple communities in all five boroughs of the city. > >ACRIA also provides treatment education to a national audience through a > >comprehensive technical assistance program in multiple cities. In addition > >to offering extensive health information resources on the Internet, the > >agency's publications -- a quarterly newsletter, ACRIA Update and topic > >specific brochures on Clinical Trials Explained, Managing Drug Side Effects > >and Understanding Your Lab Results -- are distributed for free nationwide. > >For more information on ACRIA, visit www.acria.org. > > > > > >The Kinsey Institute > > > >The mission of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and > >Reproduction is to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in > >the fields of human sexuality, gender and reproduction. The Institute > >carries out this mission through: development of specialized collections of > >resources for scholars; programs of research and publication; > >interdisciplinary conferences and seminars; provision of information > >services to researchers; and graduate training. > > > >The Institute's broader mission includes service to academic and > >professional communities through teaching, clinical and research training, > >tours and presentations, and to the public through provision of clinical > >services for problems related to sexual and reproductive health and > >referral to appropriate organizations and groups. > > > >The Institute's research collections span cultures and over 2000 years of > >human history. They record humanity's enduring fascination with sexual > >experience as a subject for art. The holdings include original commercial, > >folk and fine art and artifacts, and over 75,000 photographs, from 1870 to > >the present. The Institute's library holds over 95,000 books, magazines, > >newspapers, and scholarly journals, as well as films, videos and original > >manuscript collections. For more information on The Kinsey Institute, > >visit www.kinseyinstitute.org. > > > >The Lesbian Herstory Archives > > > >The Lesbian Herstory Archives is a community-based nonprofit institution > >founded in 1974, with the mission to gather and preserve relevant > >Lesbian-related materials in order to make this information available and > >accessible to future generations. > > > >Through the process of gathering materials, the Archives have served to > >uncover and collect information denied previously, which has enabled them > >to analyze and reevaluate the Lesbian experience. Materials collected and > >preserved include books, magazines, journals, news clippings, > >bibliographies, photographs, historical information, tapes, films, diaries, > >oral histories, poetry and prose, biographies, autobiographies, notices of > >events, posters, graphics and other memorabilia. > > > >Since inception to the present, the overall message of the Archives is one > >of non-exclusivity, that every Lesbian life could and should be represented > >and they encourage Lesbians to record their experiences in order to > >continue the formulation of a living record. > > > >The Museum of Sex is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, > >evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality. In its > >exhibitions, programs and publications, The Museum of Sex is committed to > >open discourse and exchange, and to bringing to the public the best in > >current scholarship. For more information about the Museum, visit > >www.museumofsex.com. For tickets to its current exhibition, NYC Sex, call > >1.866.MOSEX TIX. > > > >Contact: Bonni Hamilton, 212.946.6323 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >+ + + + + > > > >This is a subscription-based newsletter from the Museum of Sex. From time > >to time, the Museum of Sex will send such messages in order to communicate > >important announcements, news and updates of our progress. The Museum does > >not provide your email address or any personal information to third parties > >without your permission. To review our complete privacy policy, please > >visit: http://www.museumofsex.com/privacypolicy.html > > > > > > This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you received this email in > >error or no longer wish to receive future newsletters, please unsubscribe > >here: > > http://www.museumofsex.com/admin/emailoptout.asp?msu_id=5973
