Kicked out of memorial, explicit exhibition going back to school
NEW YORK — Two days after city parks officials shut down a Brooklyn College exhibition that included sexually explicit images, the school said Saturday that it would move the students’ artworks to campus.
The exhibition opened Wednesday at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, displaying watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box. Another work featured a white pet rat.
The memorial is used as gallery space by Brooklyn College, which is part of the City University of New York. The city Parks Department said in a statement that an agreement with the college stipulated that its art exhibitions at the memorial be “appropriate for families.â€
College Provost Roberta Matthews said in a statement that officials have decided to move the exhibition to the campus.
“Throughout, the administration of the college has supported our students’ rights to freedom of artistic expression,†she said.
The office of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has ultimate authority over the exhibition’s placement, did not immediately return calls Saturday.
Marni Kotak, one of the 18 artists whose works were on display, said she and several others were “adamantly opposed†to moving the show to the campus and did not plan to cooperate with the transfer.
“The point of having the show at this space was that there really wasn’t the right kind of space on campus to do this,†Kotak said. The students held a rally with about 50 people in front of the memorial Saturday.
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