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Producing a 'barren marketplace'

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Jen Levario

Last Sunday, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani threatened personally to sue the Brooklyn Museum of Art in what would be the third court case concerning the museum's recent controversial exhibit, "Sensation."

Some of the show's more controversial pieces include a portrait of a serial child-killer, a bisected pig suspended in formaldehyde and a painting of the Virgin Mary embellished with elephant dung - supposedly an adaptation of an African tradition that uses excrement in spiritual objects.

Giuliani is trying to have the museum evicted from its century-old, city-owned location, and after revoking multi-million dollar funding from New York's second largest museum, Giuliani faces a countersuit from the museum in Brooklyn Federal Court.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art is backed by supporters like the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has fought Giuliani in court on 21 different occasions since his term began five years ago. The NYCLU has prevailed in full or in part on

18 of these instances, with no decision in two cases.

All of these cases fundamentally question the constitutionality of Giuliani's actions and decisions. And now, with last week's opening of "Sensation" in Brooklyn, the mayor has launched what has been called "a First Amendment catastrophe."

Giuliani's motives have been criticized because of his upcoming bid for New York's U.S. Senate seat - a campaign run against the highly publicized opposition of Hillary Clinton.

But polls show Giuliani is going against the will of most of his constituents by attempting to withhold funds from the museum based on the content of an exhibit. Giuliani himself pointed to a poll in the New York Daily News, which reported that 60 percent of New Yorkers oppose Giuliani's stance.

Other than his personal crusade against "sick stuff" and "Catholic bashing," the Republican mayor has no basis for going against the wishes of more than half of New York's voters.

More importantly, there is no reason to deny the museum property they have occupied for more than 100 years -Řa property which additionally houses several educational programs.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art works closely with public schools, and has established a Web site dedicated to making aesthetic and cultural information accessible to the general public. This project is co-founded by the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library.

A program dubbed "The Learning Center" is a new educational facility in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It affords computer accessibility to the museum's permanent collection and also provides Internet workshops for teachers.

The BMA/Public School 321 Collaboration, provides elementary school students with art lessons, books and supplies. The Collaboration also sponsors field trips where students may view particular art exhibits and meet artists for each target grade.

Some argue this is of the least importance in a child's education. However, it is undeniable that art - as subjective as the term may be - can teach culture, perspective, aesthetic appreciation and history. And from a historical scope, work done with the purpose of creating art can arguably be described in the context of those four qualities - whether it is 120 bricks laid on the floor during the minimalist movement or a nude prostitute painted at the verge of the Renaissance.

In some cases, it is not the physical artwork at the epicenter of a price tag or controversy; it is the idea behind the piece and the ideas thus generated socially and within the art world.

It is these ideas that Giuliani is so desperate to suppress, and that have put the future of art - and the freedom of expression - on the line.

For the past 200 years, the U.S. has fought for the concepts of original thought and criticism. This question of content-based funding for cultural institutions jeopardizes the battle.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lamont v. Postmaster General, "dissemination of ideas can accomplish nothing if otherwise willing addressees are not free to receive and consider them. It would be a barren marketplace of ideas that had only sellers and no buyers."

For the same reasons that more traditional newspapers will stand up for the rights of publications like Hustler and The National Enquirer, the major figures in the art world and civil liberties organizations have come to the defense of the Brooklyn Art Museum.

If we restrict one art exhibit, it will not be the last.

This will be the precedent. If the city of New York is allowed to revoke funds from a museum on purely content-based grounds, we are laying the infrastructure for a barren marketplace of ideas.