After reading the Middler's post about the jailhouse party and his comparison to the display of Andre Serrano's "Piss Christ" I was truly confused. In 1989 I joined about 30 other arts workers in protecting (not protesting) "Piss Christ" from vandalism (not to mention bomb threats of the gallery itself) when Artists Space in New York included the work in an exhibition. We were defending the First Amendment, the artist's right to express himself however he wished, and in general letting Helms and his ilk know that we weren't going to let him shut down the NEA or shut up artists. So now flash forward 12 years or so and the Middler is saying that people who are offended that a party would be held in a jail are somehow the same as Jesse Helms and the right wing. I'd venture that many of the same people who'd support Andres Serrano's right to make, display, and be funded for "Piss Christ" would say that a party featuring champagne and caviar (how trite, really) in a jail during this age of racial profiling, police misconduct, homelessness, housing shortages, and all variety of social ills is just bad news all around. It makes no difference that there were no inmates around to witness the party firsthand. I read the Strib this morning and saw the partiers sitting in a cell, next to a urinal, in their black gowns, and wondered if the inmate wearing orange, not evening wear, would be having the same good time. Surely he would not be enjoying a champagne buzz. There's a huge difference between censorship and protesting injustice. Sure they can have their party in the jail and the Crisis Nursery is a good cause (although just writing a check directly to the nursery would accomplish far more since you wouldn't have to help defray party expenses, which I'd guess were considerable). But it is not an act of censorship or right wing extremism to deconstruct the ironies of this situation and make the conclusion that it's a party thrown with questionable judgment. Besides, right wingers would probably love this party because it exhibits the same sort of throwaway attitude many a right winger has toward the people who will soon dwell in this jail. And so next time, I suppose the party will be in a welfare office or a domestic abuse shelter to make the same point, break the cycle so people don't end up in those places either. Let's just dance around on someone else's dignity. Let's party in this sad place. I'd imagine many an artist would enjoy commenting on this situation. Maybe he or she would call the resulting work: "Piss on the Masses." Caroline Palmer Kingfield _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
