In the 80s and 90s there was a small Dutch museum that unexpectedly became a mayor player in the art world:
Groningen.

They had installed a director who would bring the museum world fame;
Its most talked about expositions;
A new building with spectacular modern architecture built in the middle of a canal;
And more financial mayhem and legal pushbacks any of the city’s officials were accustomed to receiving.

One of the expositions contained so many sexually explicit photos, that it shook whomever heard about it to their core.
And this time, the controversy – the very thought these photos would be in a public space where every innocent museum visitor would be confronted with them – reached unprecedented heights.
Something had to be done.

So they decided to have the most hardcore work all in one central space, and the other works would be shown in the adjacent spaces, I would guess ten of them, all spaces which were connected to one another.
Like one large horseshoe shaped corridor, around one “red hot center”. 

The entry points to the center were closed by huge black curtains, and guarded by attendants who would inform you of its shocking content, beforehand.

The space itself, in the belly of the building was huge!
But it was hot and reeked of the sweat of too many visitors and a ventilation system that was not up for the job.

It was in this space, where our sexual repertoires were expanded.
The anticipation had only made us more susceptible to take it all in, without judgement.

And the media storm subsided.
Until an incident happened no one had anticipated:
A mother breast fed her child at the café of the museum, and she was told that was not appropriate.
While within that very same building, giant depictions of humankind’s most deviant sexual acts were pinned to the walls.

The lessons:
One, objectification and sexualization of women is problematic.
Two, we measure art with different standards.

And three, when that one enfant terrible offers to make you a star?
They could be telling the truth.

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~Suzanne Beenackers
Catacombe
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