Friday, January 21, 2011

Art on the Run: The Museum of Censored Art


Dedicated to restoring censored art, the aptly titled Museum of Censored Art is displaying a controversial video banned from the Smithsonian in December after its portrayal of Jesus Christ, on a crucifix, covered in ants.

Located in a trailer in front of the National Art Gallery, the compact exhibition continuously screens David Wojnarowicz's four-minute film, “Fire in My Belly.” Throughout the display, posters and wall signs explain that the video isn’t anti-Christian, instead “criticizing societies indifference toward AIDS.”

The total cost of the presentation, which will last a month, ending February 13, is $3,100, $2,600 for parking and a $1,500 fee for the trailer.

“We gathered up the money to put this together,” Adrian Parsons, a volunteer for the Museum explained. “We got through a fundraiser a lot of help.”

Almost a month after the controversy erupted, in which the Catholic League, a group independent of the Catholic Church, and Congressional Republicans demanded its removal from the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has decided to display the piece.

“Now that it’s hung in a museum, the forefront of contemporary art … a lot of people have seen this,” Parsons said.

Through January 20th, over 1,900 people have visited the Museum of Censored Art.

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