Staff Morale

So many of my friends have been talking about the removal of A Fire in my Belly by the late artist David Wojnarowicz from the Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture show at the National Portrait Gallery (US), and I finally found an interview with Martin Sullivan, the Director of the Gallery, about why the Smithsonian chose to remove the piece. You can hear it here. In the interview, Sullivan details the difficulty of accessing the piece, which is part of a touchscreen display where users would have select A Fire in my Belly from within a menu including several other works. He does a great job of describing briefly the process of putting together a show, and how loan negotiations don't always come together the way curators and directors would like. He also described how the video may be hard to read as portraiture. Toward the end, with about a minute left, Sullivan starts discussing what he describes as "another moment" where we in the arts are fighting for the freedom to mount shows that have educational value, to engage, to get people talking. Its the early 1990's culture wars all over again here in the U.S., and curators and museums are going to have to contend with more than just the usual budget and logistics issues in putting together exhibits.

It is a great moment to talk about the let downs of curating: of not getting the show to have the look or feel originally conceived--because of budget, because of difficulties securing loans, because of the controversies the show might stir up. Integrity--of curators, institutions, even artists themselves--rests largely on the shoulders of administrators and boards and I think its important to support them as they work to make the best out of our current climate. I'm wondering if any readers want to share stories about how they made the best of a bad situation in putting together a show, or how administrators or board members have made their jobs easier, by making phone calls, taking the heat, or trying to get the impossible accomplished.