Cut by the Smithsonian, 'Ant Christ' video finds new homes

After the Smithsonian backed down and removed the late artist David Wojnarowicz's four-minute video "Fire in the Belly" from the National Portrait Gallery's "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," the work is finding its way into other art institutions throughout the country, including Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art where the video is presently being shown.

The ICA is joining dozens of art institutions throughout the country in displaying the controversial work.

"We chose to show it as a way of not letting it become just a news story, a scandal,'' said ICA chief curator Helen Molesworth told the Boston Globe yesterday. "We want to reclaim it as art, and to allow for the possibility of having an experience with it in a public museum.''

Caved in to pressure

The removal of the video on November 30, 2010 Twas seen as the Smithsonian caving to conservative pressure groups. According to the Washington Post on December 1, 2010, "The four-minute video, created by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, had been on exhibit since Oct. 30 as part of a show on sexual difference in American portraiture."

The work intends to reflect the "violent, disturbing and hallucinatory" aspects of the AIDS epidemic.

The controversial section of Wojnarowicz's work is an 11-second sequence that shows a small crucifix covered with ants.

The Post report continued" "The piece was called "hate speech" by Catholic League president William Donohue and a misuse of taxpayer money by a spokesman for Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the presumptive incoming House speaker."

According the Globe report (an analysis of the incident by the paper's art critic Sebastian Smee), the video went viral in the media after Penny Starr, a reporter and conservative activist who works for the right-wing news site CNSNews.com., wrote a story about the exhibit. She sent e-mails to House and Senate leaders of both parties concerning the offensive and "homoerotic" content of the exhibit. Boehner and minority whip Eric Cantor responded quickly demanding the show be closed down and the Smithsonian funding needed to be investigated.

"This is an outrageous use of taxpayer money and an obvious attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season,'' Cantor told Fox News. "When a museum receives taxpayer money, the taxpayers have a right to expect that the museum will uphold common standards of decency. The museum should pull the exhibit and be prepared for serious questions come budget time.''

The decision to remove Wojnarowicz's work was made by G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian.

The museum's director Martin E. Sullivan dismissed charges that the Smithsonian was caving into right-wing pressure. "The decision wasn't caving in," he said. "We don't want to shy away from anything that is controversial, but we want to focus on the museum's and this show's strengths."

"I regret that some reports about the exhibit have created an impression that the video is intentionally sacrilegious," his statement read. "In fact, the artists's intention was to depict the suffering of an AIDS victim. It was not the museum's intention to offend. We are removing the video today. The museum's statement at the exhibition's entrance, 'This exhibition contains mature themes,' will remain in place."

Since then the decision has been controversial in the art world. The Association of Art Museum Directors, which represents institutions across North America, condemned the action. On Monday, the Andy Warhol Foundation (a main sponsor of "Hide/Seek" threatened to cut all future financial contributions to the Smithsonian if it did not reinstate the video.

At the National Portrait Gallery, the work wasn't displayed on a loop, rather the viewer needed to initiate a viewing. Signs at the entrance to the exhibit also told museum-goers that the exhibit "contains muture themes." At the ICA the video is shown in a separate room with similar signage.

The controversial video "Fire in the Belly" was also posted on YouTube: