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Freezing "The perfect moment" Lang, Kirstie

Abstract

This study examines a body of literature which was generated by controversy. The controversy stems from the 1988-1990 exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's retrospective, "The Perfect Moment." Due to the sexual nature of the show's contents, guidelines for the National Endowment for the Arts were revised, one gallery cancelled plans to exhibit the retrospective, and another gallery was taken to court. The controversy generated extensive debate on the status of Mapplethorpe's work as art and as pornography, and on the rights of institutions to show sexual imagery and obtain federal funding. A meta-analysis of the literature on the controversy was carried out, focusing on articles published in five American art journals and one newspaper. This material was studied in order to determine the issues deemed important in the debate, the various ways these issues were debated by factions involved, and the significance of these issues within the controversy. Additional materials were incorporated to examine the history of controversy over sexual art, the type of sexuality shown in Mapplethorpe's work, feminist arguments for and against pornography, and relevant obscenity laws. The study shows that Mapplethorpe's work was defended as art based on "expert" conceptions of art and legitimating art contexts. It states that the work's "pornographic" content functions to emulate and transgress social structures. Negative reactions to the photographs' sexual content are discussed in terms of anti-pornography feminist associations of pornography with violence. Discomfort with various aspects of sexuality is also attributed to the particular nature of this debate. The hosting museums and the funding agency are described as having been targets of censorship, their own responsibilities to represent and challenge the status quo made problematic by the changing nature of their communities over the course of the debate. The study concludes with suggestions to museum educators. They point to the need to educate on sexual imagery's various aspects: artistic qualities, the sexuality portrayed, arguments for and against the portrayal of sexuality, and the laws relevant to its exposure. Public debate and counterspeech are encouraged. And programming involving the help of artistic, legal, and sexual experts is strongly advised.

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