Open Letter from Vito Acconci

A city exists by means of density and mix – a mix of genders and races and colors and opinions, a close-up of genders and races and colors and opinions. A school exists by means of density and mix – a mix of theories, a mix of systems – a close-up, a swarm, of all the ways-to-live in the world. In the middle of this mix, a person decides, a person lives, for him/her-self.

Both the city and the school are ways to leave home. A city-dweller, a city-meanderer, a student, might choose to go back home, or try to go home again; but the person makes that choice on his/her own, for him/her-self. Neither the city nor the school promotes belief; it might engender commitment, give occasions for commitment, but never belief.

The inhabitants of a city shouldn’t conform to the government of the city; students shouldn’t conform to the administration of the school; the government of the city, the administration of the school, has to twist and warp and morph to fit the inhabitants, to fit the students. People shouldn’t be afraid of their government, students shouldn’t be afraid of their administration; it’s the government, it’s the administration, that should be longing to be afraid of its people, its students – it’s that fear that keeps the government, the administration, alive and changing.

When a city official engenders belief, by punishing the non-believer, that city official turns the city into a suburb. When the provost of a college supports the city official, that provost turns the school into a church. Each tries to close an open system, and a closed system can’t help but die. Conservatism is a last gasp of a dying culture, a desperate attempt to preserve the old world when the new world – the exhilaratingly frightening new world – is just around the corner.

-Vito Acconci

Re-opening, 5/24

the entrance

the crowd

Yejin talking to BCAT in front of her damaged work

Zoe talking to The Brooklyn Rail

Marni's reconfigured piece

Carrie's reconfigured piece

Megan's reconfigured piece

Statement from the Artists

Welcome to Plan B PREVAILS, the second iteration of the Brooklyn College MFA thesis exhibition previously called Plan B. This show has arisen from a complex set of circumstances which began to unfold on May 4, when a City Parks official judged some work to be “inappropriate,” changed the locks of the building, and without informing us, shut down our thesis show the day after its opening. Since then, the arbitrary decisions and mishandling of our work and our rights by the City and the Brooklyn College administration have embroiled us in a struggle against censorship.

We are pleased that our work can now enjoy a run comparable to what was promised. Nevertheless, the college administration instantly chose to align itself with the City that violated our First Amendment rights, and in so doing not only violated its contract with tuition-paying students, but also compromised its commitment to mentoring and growing emerging artists. The administration took possession of our work without permission or notification, denied us access to it in a timely manner, and handled our work so carelessly that much of it was damaged, destroyed, and lost. College officials’ choices have effectively made it clear that they have no regard for our work or integrity as artists, nor do they take their role as educators seriously. So let us be clear that this exhibition in no way redeems the college administration’s actions toward us.

The show you now enter is altogether changed by the events of the past three weeks. This gorgeous 6,000 square foot space was almost completely raw when we gained access little over a week ago. You will see many works reconfigured in response to irreparable damage by the college, as well as new pieces in place of those destroyed. Above all, this show is a document of our own hard work. As artists and students who have been treated punitively and denied our rights, we stand up and show our work again because art exists to be seen and shared.

Thank you for joining Plan B Prevails in solidarity.

Carla Aspenberg
Jill Auckenthaler
John Avelluto
Zoë Cohen
David Davron
Susan C. Dessel
Carl James Ferrero
Carrie Fucile
Pamela Gordon
Yejin Jun
Diane Kosup
Marni Kotak
Augusto Marin
Akiko Mori
Chris Moss
Sarah Nicole Phillips
Megan Piontkowski
Tamas Veszi

Special thanks to those who gave generously of their resources and talents to make this show possible:

David Walentas & Two Trees Management
Steve Keltner
Professor Michael Mallory
Professor Karen Giusti
Professor Jennifer McCoy
Professor Mona Hadler
Professor Arnold Brooks
Professor Jennifer Ball
Noreen Collins
Constantine Frolov
Colson Romulus
Luis Ortiz
Josh Willis
Joel Molina
Brandon Schreck
Scott Yates
Yuri Spektor

Brooklyn College MFA Show Re-opens this Wednesday, May 24 in Dumbo

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

‘Plan B Prevails’ as Brooklyn College MFA Students
Re-open Censored Exhibition

Exhibition features works from ‘Plan B’ and new works made in response to the
shuttering of original show

Exhibition Dates: May 24 - June 16, 2006 at 70 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 24, 6-9pm, with Live Performance

NEW YORK (May 22, 2006) Brooklyn College MFA students are pleased to announce the re-opening of their 2006 Brooklyn College MFA thesis exhibition, originally censored by NYC officials, entitled Plan B Prevails.

The exhibition will take place at 70 Washington Street, in Dumbo, Brooklyn, from
May 24 - June 16, 2006. The opening reception will be held on May 24, from 6 to 9 pm.

Artists in the show include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

The student show, originally mounted at the Brooklyn War Memorial, was shut down on Thursday, May 4, 2006, just one day after it opened, by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who deemed the work not “appropriate for families.”

On Friday, May 19, 2006 students regained possession of their work. They are busily preparing to reopen the show in 6,000 square feet of space donated by Two Trees Development in Dumbo. In addition to works previously exhibited at the War Memorial, Plan B Prevails will unveil new works make in response to the shuttering of the original show.

Plan B Prevails is located at 70 Washington Street in Brooklyn, New York, entrance located on Front Street. The exhibit is free to the public and is open Wednesday through Sunday from May 24 to June 16, 2006 from 12 to 6 pm or by appointment at Brooklynmfa@gmail.com. Take the F to York Street or the A/C to High Street.

For more information about the exhibition visit http://planbprevails.com. For updates on the continuing story of Plan B and Plan C visit http://plancensored.blogspot.com.

Plan B Prevails

You are invited to the opening of Plan B Prevails!

Wednesday May 24th, 2006

6-9pm

performance at 8

70 Washington Street, Dumbo
(entrance on Front Street)

F train to York Street, A/C to High Street

Exhibition hours: Wed-Sun 12-6

This infamous show will be a combination of work from the original show and new work that comments on the events that followed the censorship of Plan B.


planbprevails.com

Village Voice Interview

The Village Voice did an interview with Marni Kotak yesterday.

Artworks Damaged When Exhibit Moved, Students Say (NY Sun, AP)

Artworks Damaged When Exhibit Moved, Students Say

By DINO HAZELL - Associated Press
May 15, 2006

Artworks from a college exhibit that was shut down because parks officials thought it was inappropriate for visitors to the public war memorial that housed it were damaged or misplaced when they were removed by the school, students said yesterday.

"Students found their work improperly packaged in garbage bags, much of it irreparably damaged and some pieces missing," the students said in an e-mailed statement describing their examination of the art on Saturday.

The Brooklyn College students' exhibit, which included representations of male genitalia, watercolor paintings of gay sex, and a live rat, opened early this month in the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, a World War II commemoration used as gallery space by the college.

The Department of Parks & Recreation closed it the next day, saying an agreement with the school stipulated that art exhibits at the memorial be "appropriate for families."

Carrie Fucile, who built a 7-by-8-by-10-foot wooden house for the show, found barely a trace of her art in the two rooms in which the students' dismantled works were stored at the college campus's Roosevelt Hall, the students' statement said. Pieces of the installation were used as packaging for other artworks, and most of the $20,000 worth of digital equipment used for the show was found jumbled together in boxes or trash bags, it said.

The rat was taken home by a student the day the exhibit was closed. A spokesman for the college didn't immediately return a message left on his after-hours cell phone number yesterday.

The 18-student show, a graduation requirement, is the thesis for the masters of fine arts degree and had been scheduled to run through May 25.

After it was closed, the student artists agreed to remount it later this month in nearby retail space donated by a local developer if the school upheld an agreement to provide logistical and financial support for it. They said Sunday that the plan was up in the air because of the damage to the artworks.

They said they still planned to file a freedom-of-speech lawsuit against the city, the parks department and the college over the show's removal from the Brooklyn War Memorial.

The granite and limestone memorial, in Cadman Plaza, is dedicated to Americans who served in World War II. It has a hall with an honor roll listing the names of those who died and features larger-than-life statues of a male warrior, symbolizing victory, and a female with a child, representing family.

Students Shocked By Brooklyn College’s Damage of Artwork

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

Students Shocked By Brooklyn College’s Damage of Artwork

Five Days After Unauthorized Removal, Students Are Allowed to Inspect Work and Find Extensive Damages and Many Artworks Missing

NEW YORK (May 14, 2006, 2:30PM) Five days after Brooklyn College conducted the unauthorized removal of MFA students’ work from the Brooklyn War Memorial, students were finally allowed access yesterday to inspect the current condition of their works and found extensive damages and many artworks missing.

MFA students at Brooklyn College reviewed damages to their artwork yesterday after Brooklyn College employees moved the work against students’ will from the Brooklyn War Memorial to an unknown location on campus last Monday. Inspection was permitted and coordinated by the Brooklyn College Vice President of Finance Steve Little and Brooklyn College Gallery Director Maria Rand. Students have been waiting for this access from college officials, who have refused prior requests, since last Monday.

At 9am yesterday students arrived at Roosevelt Hall on the Brooklyn College campus prepared to inspect their work together. The students were surprised to find that Mr. Little had ordered the officers to allow students access only one at a time. This caused the process to last until 6pm yesterday afternoon.

Under the supervision of Brooklyn College CUNY security officers and with the aid of Graduate Deputy Karen Giusti, students found their work improperly packaged in garbage bags, much of it irreparably damaged and some pieces missing. Professor Giusti remarked, “I’ve never seen a group of artists’ work so totally destroyed.”

Carrie Fucile, who built a 7’ x 8’ x 10’ wooden house as part of an installation, could find barely a trace of the large structure among the two rooms in which the work was stowed. A few pieces of the dismantled installation were used as packaging for other works of art, others were later located out by the loading dock for raw materials and trash.

Marni Kotak could not find over 10 original drawings, the video documentation of her live performance at the show opening, and most of the elements of her 10’ x 20’ site-specific installation. She found two chalkboard drawings irreparably destroyed. Tamas Veszi could not find his entire site-specific installation, and could only find two damaged paintings and three destroyed sculptures. Neither Fucile, Kotak nor Veszi were allowed to adequately document their site-specific works prior to their demolition.

Augusto Marin’s large folding chair and wall sculpture and Yejin Jun’s foam and pins sculpture were found in pieces, and the work of John Aveluto, Megan Piontkowski, Susan Dessel, Carla Aspenberg, Pamela Gordon, and other artists suffered damages. Most of the approximately $20,000 worth of digital equipment utilized for the exhibition was found jumbled together in large boxes or trash bags without the proper carrying cases. Several artists also reported missing personal items such as a video camera, DVD players, and original personal documents.

The student show, mounted as a graduation requirement for the Master of Fine Arts Degree at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, was suddenly shut down at about 3:30PM on Thursday, May 4, 2006, by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who deemed the work not “appropriate for families.” On Monday, May 8, Brooklyn College removed the students’ artwork from the Brooklyn War Memorial without their permission.

The artists in the exhibition include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

For further information on the developing story of Plan B and Plan C, visit http://plancensored.blogspot.com.

NY TImes, 5/12

The NY Times reported on the situation today.

We STILL have not been allowed to see our artwork. We are hoping to look at it soon and asses the damages before we move anything to the new space.

Students Relocate a Shuttered Art Show

By RANDY KENNEDY
Published: May 12, 2006

A group of graduate art students whose thesis exhibition was shut down last week after a city official found it offensive have accepted an offer by their college to relocate the show to the Dumbo neighborhood in Brooklyn.

On May 4, a day after the Brooklyn College exhibition opened, the Brooklyn parks commissioner, Julius Spiegel, ordered it closed and changed the locks to the exhibition space, a World War II memorial hall near the Brooklyn Bridge. He said that some of the artworks — featuring, among other things, a live rat and a sculpture of a hand holding a penis — were not appropriate for families, violating an oral agreement he said his department had reached six years ago with Brooklyn College on the use of the space.

On Monday, over the objections of the 18 students involved, the college sent trucks and removed all the artworks from the hall. The students protested and began planning to file a federal lawsuit against both the Parks Department and the college, claiming that their free-speech rights had been violated.

In addition to the hand-and-penis sculpture, works in the show included a video with sexual overtones in which women are dressed as nuns, and a watercolor of a man's torso, with an accompanying narrative about a sexual encounter between two men, one of whom used the computer screen name Dick Cheney.

The students said yesterday that while they still planned to file the lawsuit, they had agreed to a proposal to reopen the exhibition at 70 Washington Street in Brooklyn because they felt it was important for the work to be seen. The relocated show is to open on May 24 and continue through June 16.

The new location, with 6,000 square feet of unoccupied retail space on the ground floor of a building that houses luxury condominiums, was offered free to the college by David C. Walentas, a major developer in the neighborhood. For several years Mr. Walentas had leased space in the 12-story building at low rents to artists and small galleries, but all had to leave in 2004 to make way for the condo conversion.

"There was definitely some heated argument about the philosophical implications of what we're doing, but I think the majority of the students wanted to do this," said Marni Kotak, one of the artists. "We wanted to do this as quickly as possible, so we could basically move on from this whole situation."

The Riverdale Press: Return of the Censors

THE RIVERDALE PRESS Thursday, May 11, 2006

The return of the censors



In 1988, Chicago police arrested a painting; last week, New York City jailed an entire art exhibit.

In both cases, the offending art was student work on display in the year-end show that is a college art department’s equivalent of a thesis.

In both cases, the authorities acted precipitately and in violation of the fundamental right of artists to express themselves and of our fundamental right to make up our own minds.

In both cases the academic institutions that should have defended their students and the faculty that mentored them instead beat a craven retreat.

It took a federal court to rebuke the Chicago authorities for confiscating David Nelson’s mocking portrait of the city’s late mayor Harold Washington clad only in a bra and panties.

Will it take a court to stand up for the students of Brooklyn College, who, shortly after celebrating what they thought was a successful opening, saw months of work sequestered?

Last Thursday, Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel abruptly locked up the war memorial in Cadman Plaza Park, which for the last five years has served as an art gallery and the venue for Brooklyn College’s year-end art exhibit.

The commissioner-turned-critic apparently didn’t like the image of a penis with homoerotic overtones or a video on Biblical themes that included sexually-charged footage of Eve in the garden. Next thing the students knew, a locksmith was changing the locks on the gallery, effectively impounding their work.

It took the college the better part of a day to decide how to respond. Then it issued a statement trying to have it both ways: “In keeping with the public nature of the space, as well as its position as an honored war memorial, Brooklyn College has respectfully decided to move the entire student exhibit to our campus. Brooklyn College has a long tradition of educating fine artists. Throughout, the administration of the College has supported our students’ rights to freedom of artistic expression. We are proud to display our student art here at the College.”

Not good enough, said the students. Told the exhibit would be moved to the college library, Marni Kotak, the students’ spokeswoman, noted that many of the 18 works were site-specific and others were too large to be exhibited effectively in the library.

“Clearly the administration of BC is thinking only of covering themselves … rather than taking any kind of stand at all to defend the hard work of us students,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We are generally infuriated by this tactic and are determined to either have our show reopened at the War Memorial or hold BC responsible for covering all costs for moving and reinstalling such an exhibition in another appropriate venue.”

According to city Parks Department spokesman Warner Johnston, the city had an “explicit agreement with the college that because it’s a war memorial and public space, it had to be appropriate for families.” Asked for a copy, he paused, then said there was no written agreement, but a verbal understanding. Colleen Roche, the head of a public relations firm hired by the college, refused to answer questions about the agreement and whether, if it existed, the art department or anyone in the current administration knew of it. The students say no one ever told them about it.

In any event, it is sad to see an institution of higher learning forget the lessons of the past. Only seven years ago, the city was rebuked for trying to intimidate and punish another Brooklyn institution, when a federal judge told Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that he couldn’t force the Brooklyn Museum to abandon the “Sensation” show.

The Giuliani administration then made an argument much like the one the Bloomberg administration is making now. Rejecting the contention that the museum broke its contract with the city to educate school children by showing work not fit for children to see, Judge Nina Gershon wrote, “There is no federal constitutional issue more grave than the effort by government officials to censor works of expression and to threaten the vitality of a major cultural institution as punishment for failing to abide by governmental demands for orthodoxy.”

The job of a university is to educate not only its students but the society it serves. In failing to stand up for its students’ exhibit, Brooklyn College lost an opportunity to explain the role and the nature of art. And it failed in an even more important task: to tell New Yorkers that it’s their job as citizens to judge public expression, and that no matter how provocative or potentially offensive it may be, the government has no business intruding on our ability to do so.

Letter from a concerned community member

Dear Mr. Kimmich and Ms. Matthews:

This week, I witnessed your administration's actions regarding the MFA Thesis Exhibit at the Brooklyn War Memorial. As part of that administration, I find your actions truly deplorable!

For your information, your Art department was founded by people escaping fascist Germany for freedom here in Brooklyn. I am dumbfounded that artwork from the students of this same department has been censored by a government and removed by an academic administration that are entrusted, each in their own way, with protecting that important legacy. Then, continue the episode with the fact that the art was being exhibited in a hall commemorating our country's freedoms, as fought for by WWII soldiers (I am the son of a veteran!), and the whole event you perpetrated is vile. Those soldiers died for ideals obviously too grand for you or Bloomberg and Benepe and their cronies to understand or respect.

My family appreciates art, we appreciate all art. My family pays taxes and expects the right to enjoy our parks too. I cannot tolerate a fascist view of "family values" nor can I stand by idly and watch petty bureaucrats cave in without even a fight that could easily be won on the grounds outlined above, and with total abandon for the students' rights as guaranteed by the US Constitution as well as their rights to academic freedom. You did what would be equal to ripping up a student's paper because you did not agree with the content of it. I assume you would never do such a thing if you were in a faculty role. Is that a correct assumption? I am not sure.

On the most basic level, you have shown such profound disrespect for the students' property and "homework". Some of the artwork took years to create and, no matter what you think of the artwork, you do not simply throw the pieces in a truck and shake them off to campus across the pot-holed streets of Brooklyn while you divert the students' attention with a false meeting. It is all very childish and not becoming of officials paid to serve the educational mission of our fine city. You have obviously never been party to a creative endeavor as you do not have respect for the student's art. Do you know any artists? Have you bothered to understand the effort that goes into making art? At the very least, you should be very ashamed of yourselves and your total disregard for other humans.

I can only hope that the vote by your academic council today will be followed by removal of both of you and all others responsible for this abomination!

Sincerely,

Concerned Community Member

Brooklyn College Faculty Vote in Favor of Students’ Rights to Freedom of Expression and Against Censorship

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

Brooklyn College Faculty Vote in Favor of Students’ Rights to Freedom of Expression and Against Censorship

Deplores Actions of NYC Parks Department to Censor Work and Brooklyn College Administration to Remove Work Without Students’ Permission

NEW YORK (May 9, 2006, 7:30PM) This afternoon at a meeting of the Brooklyn College Faculty Council, the council voted by a landslide in favor of a resolution supporting the MFA students’ right to freedom of expression, and deploring the recent actions of the NYC Parks Department to censor the students’ work, and the Brooklyn College Administration to remove the students’ work without their permission.

The governing body of the entire faculty of Brooklyn College convened today from 3:30 to 5:00pm, and voted 58 in favor, 10 against, and 6 abstentions, on the following resolution:

Resolution Addressed to the Brooklyn Parks Department, The Brooklyn College Administration, and the Mayor of New York City:

That we, the Brooklyn College Faculty, deplore that students' art work was recently removed by the Brooklyn College Administration, that we deplore this act of censorship of artwork on the part of the Parks Department, and we affirm students' rights to be involved in any decisions or actions related to their art work.

Yesterday, Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, a 1965 graduate of Brooklyn College, announced that he would be representing the students in a lawsuit against the City of New York, the Parks Department and the Brooklyn College Administration on First Amendment grounds.

Sunday the students issued a statement expressing that the unilateral decision of Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, to shut down their thesis show “constitutes an act of censorship on the part of the NYC Parks Department.” Yesterday, beginning in the morning and continuing throughout the day, Brooklyn College workers at the Brooklyn War Memorial dismantled, damaged and moved student artwork locked within the space without the permission of the MFA students participating in the shut down thesis exhibition.

The student show, mounted as a graduation requirement for the Master of Fine Arts Degree at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, was suddenly shut down at about 3:30PM on Thursday, May 4, 2006, by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who deemed the work not “appropriate for families.” The artists in the exhibition include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

The exhibition was scheduled to be open through May 25th at the Brooklyn College Art Gallery at the Brooklyn War Memorial Building, Cadman Plaza, in downtown Brooklyn. For further information or to voice your support for the reopening of Plan B, visit http://plancensored.blogspot.com.

Brooklyn College Moves Our Work

As per the Press Release listed in a post below, yesterday Brooklyn College removed our work from the War Memorial without our consent.

We were set to meet with Provost Roberta Matthews at 9am. As we were about to go to the meeting, we got calls from fellow students who were guarding the space saying that Brooklyn College trucks were there and had begun dismantling and taking out the artwork. We had to turn around and rush down there.

When the professors who are supporting us got to the Provost's door they were told the meeting was cancelled.

The PR for Brooklyn College has spun this as if we agreed to this and as if it was a benevolent gesture. Unfortunately some of the press has picked up on this and is sending out inaccurate information. We never agreed for them to move this work and were never given a chance to discuss anything with the college. We have agreed to nothing regarding this space they have proposed to us.

No one can describe how it feels to see the fruits of all of your labors taken down and dismantled in the span of hours.

Brooklyn Art Exhibition Comes Down Amid Protest (NY Times)

Brooklyn Art Exhibition Comes Down Amid Protest

By RANDY KENNEDY and JANON FISHER
Published: May 9, 2006

A dispute between Brooklyn College and a group of its graduate art students over an exhibition that some officials found objectionable deepened yesterday after the college sent trucks to remove several works of art from a temporary gallery space in Downtown Brooklyn.

On Thursday, a day after the exhibition opened, the Brooklyn parks commissioner, Julius Spiegel, ordered it closed and changed the locks on the building, declaring that some of the students' artwork — featuring, among other things, a live rat and a sculpture of a hand holding a penis — was not appropriate for families.

Mr. Spiegel said the subject matter violated a verbal agreement reached six years ago between the Department of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn College for the use of the space, a World War II memorial hall near the Brooklyn Bridge.

College officials said later that they would respect the department's decision and planned to relocate the show, called "Plan B," to its campus. But the 18 graduate students whose art was featured in the show as part of their thesis requirement condemned the decision as censorship at a rally on Saturday and said there was no equivalent space for the exhibition on campus.

Yesterday morning around 8, a pickup and a moving truck arrived at the building, on Cadman Plaza West, and a dozen Brooklyn College workers took away several artworks. Students, a few armed with video cameras, claimed that some of the works — including a delicate-looking white foam sculpture covered with push pins — had been damaged and told the workers that they could be held liable, a threat that seemed to halt the removal for several hours.

But later in the afternoon the workers took more art out of the building and put it in a pickup truck. Several students jumped into the back of the truck and took the works back out. Three plainclothes police officers arrived and began talking to the students while the workers put the artworks back in the pickup and continued to dismantle and remove the other artworks in the building.

They included paintings, video installations, sculpture and one work that apparently provoked Mr. Spiegel to order the show closed: a watercolor by Carl James Ferrero of a man's torso, with a narrative about a sexual encounter between two men, one of whom used the computer screen name Dick Cheney.

"Nobody communicated to the students that any of the art was going to be removed this morning," said Zoë Cohen, an artist in the show. "We don't consent to any of this."

Yejin Jun, who created the foam-and-pins sculpture, said it took her more than a year to complete the 52-pound work, with tens of thousands of pins placed by hand. She said it was damaged yesterday when it was put on the floor of a flatbed truck, with nothing covering or protecting it. "The foam is damaged, it's destroyed," she said. "I cannot fix it." She added: "Our college did not support us."

Late yesterday afternoon, Brooklyn College officials offered the students another venue for the show, in the Dumbo neighborhood, after David C. Walentas, a developer, said he could provide 6,000 square feet of commercial space for the exhibition at least until the beginning of June. (The show at the World War II memorial was scheduled to close on May 25.)

The space, at 70 Washington Street, would be in some ways a strange choice for the show. Mr. Walentas leased space in the 12-story building for several years, at low rents, to artists and small galleries, but all had to leave in 2004 to make way for luxury condos and retailers. It was unclear yesterday whether the students would accept the college's new offer.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose administration has strongly supported public art, deflected questions about the exhibition over the weekend. But he said yesterday that he believed that the closing of the show was appropriate. "Nobody's suggesting that anybody shouldn't be allowed to exhibit art," Mr. Bloomberg said. "The issue here is this is not a museum. This is a war memorial." He added, "There has been an understanding ever since art was put here that the art would be appropriate for families and respectful of and appropriate for a war memorial and this time it was not."

Norman Siegel, a lawyer who is working on behalf of the students, said yesterday that he was disappointed at the mayor's comments. "One would think he would be better on this issue, given his record in the past," he said.

Mr. Siegel said he planned to file suit later this week in federal court claiming that the students' rights to free speech were violated. He added that the filing would proceed even if the students accept the college's offer of space in Dumbo.

"I think what's happening here illustrates a serious misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the Constitution," he said. "The government cannot excise certain artistic visions simply because a public official dislikes them or finds them inappropriate. It's censorship plain and simple."

Lawyer says students will sue city over closed New York exhibit (AP International)

Copyright 2006 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
Associated Press Worldstream

May 9, 2006 Tuesday 1:35 AM GMT

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LENGTH: 431 words

HEADLINE: Lawyer says students will sue city over closed New York exhibit

BYLINE: By ELIZABETH LeSURE, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:


Tensions over a Brooklyn College art show that parks officials deemed too racy for a public war memorial escalated as the school dismantled the exhibit and a lawyer for the artists said they planned to sue the city on freedom of expression rights.

The exhibit, which included representations of male genitalia, watercolor paintings of gay sex and a live rat, was housed in the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial until the Department of Parks & Recreation shut it down the day after it opened last week.

The World War II memorial is used as gallery space by the college, which is part of the City University of New York system. The parks department said an agreement with the school stipulated that art exhibits at the memorial be "appropriate for families."

Brooklyn College moved the artwork on Monday and planned to keep it on campus until it could be installed in retail space donated by a real estate developer, school spokeswoman Colleen Roche said in an e-mail.

The 18-student show, a graduation requirement, is the thesis for the masters of fine arts degree and had been scheduled to run through May 25.

Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, a 1965 graduate of Brooklyn College, said he was representing the students in a freedom of expression lawsuit he planned to file in federal court in Brooklyn.

"A clear message must be sent to the Bloomberg administration that government is not the appropriate body to judge the value of art and government should not, as it is trying to do here, impose a cultural and artistic orthodoxy in the city of New York," Siegel said.

He said that the students would pursue the real estate developer's offer to see how the space compared to the War Memorial but that they planned to move forward with the lawsuit regardless of whether the exhibit is reinstalled at the new space.

Roche said the college would not comment on a "hypothetical" lawsuit. She said the school's provost told the head of the art department and the students about the developer's offer to donate space but she didn't know what their response had been.

Siegel said he was disappointed in the school's actions.

"The college today aided and abetted censorship," he said.

An e-mail sent to a spokeswoman for the city's law department was not immediately returned.

The granite and limestone Brooklyn War Memorial, in Cadman Plaza, is dedicated to Americans who served in World War II. It has a hall with an honor roll listing the names of those who died. It also features larger-than-life statues symbolizing victory and family: a male warrior on the left and a female with a child on the right.

Brooklyn College Moves MFA Students’ Artwork Without Permission

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

Brooklyn College Moves MFA Students’ Artwork Without Permission

College Trucks Dismantling, Damaging and Hauling Out Student Work Throughout Day

NEW YORK (May 8, 2006, 4:00PM) Beginning this morning and continuing throughout the day, Brooklyn College workers at the Brooklyn War Memorial have been dismantling, damaging and moving student artwork locked within the space without the permission of the MFA students participating in the shut down thesis exhibition.

At approximately 8:15am this morning, Brooklyn College graduating MFA student, Megan Piontkowski, arrived at the Brooklyn War Memorial at 195 Cadman Plaza West in downtown Brooklyn to find three moving trucks and approximately 10-15 movers outside the building. Alarmed, Ms. Piontokowski questioned the movers as to what they were doing. One of the workers responded: “We are cleaning out this place.”

The workers then went inside the gallery space, locked the door, and would not allow Ms. Piontkowski to enter. She then saw them carry out some drywall and pieces of wood, followed by Augusto Marin’s large folding chair sculpture. They dismantled part of Marni Kotak’s installation, placing her rat in the back of a van. Yejin Jun’s wall sculpture titled Push and Pull, a work which took the artist months to create and involved the meticulous act of pressing thousands of pins into the approximately 5’ x 4’ sculptural form, was reportedly damaged during the move. Workers even dismantled Carrie Fucile’s approximately 8’ x 8’ x 10’ installation of a makeshift plywood house custom built for this exhibition, and reportedly stated that they intended to take down and move the entire show back to the Brooklyn College campus today.

Yesterday the students released a statement, citing First Amendment rights which provide for freedom of expression in a public space, that they opposed the decision of Brooklyn College Provost Roberta S. Matthews’ that their works be moved to the Brooklyn College Campus. In the statement the students said that the unilateral decision of Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, to shut down their thesis show “constitutes an act of censorship on the part of the NYC Parks Department.” The students reiterated that they were never made aware of any agreement between the Brooklyn College Administration and the NYC Parks Department governing the nature of the artwork shown within the space. Furthermore, the students stated, such a contract would be “unconstitutional.”

A delegation of students and faculty coordinated a meeting scheduled for this morning at 9:00am at Brooklyn College with Provost Roberta S. Matthews, in order to discuss how the students could work together with the Brooklyn College Administration to resolve the issue and get their show reopened by the Parks Department. The students arrived at the appointed meeting time and location to find the Provost not present. At 9:00am, MFA student Jill Auckenthaler called MFA Department Chairman Michael Mallory and was informed that the Provost had just told him she had cancelled the meeting.

The student show, mounted as a graduation requirement for the Master of Fine Arts Degree at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, was suddenly shut down at about 3:30PM on Thursday, May 4, 2006, by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who deemed the work not “appropriate for families.” The artists in the exhibition include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

The exhibition was scheduled to be open through May 25th at the Brooklyn College Art Gallery at the Brooklyn War Memorial Building, Cadman Plaza, in downtown Brooklyn. For further information or to voice your support for the reopening of Plan B, visit http://plancensored.blogspot.com.

AP WIre, Newsday 5/7/06

Our latest Press Release hit the AP wire tonight and has been covered by Newsday

Brooklyn College students protest shut down of exhibit

May 7, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) _ A group of Brooklyn College Master of Fine Arts students demanded an exhibit of their work be reopened after city park officials shut it down.

The students say parks officials violated their First Amendment rights Thursday when they closed the Brooklyn College MFA Thesis exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial.


Over the weekend dozens of students protested outside the memorial's locked doors.

The building near the Brooklyn Bridge is city-owned. City officials closed the show after receiving complaints about the exhibit that's called "Plan B."

The exhibit contained watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box. Another work featured a white pet rat.

The city Parks Department said an agreement with the college stipulated that art exhibits at the memorial be "appropriate for families."

In a statement released Sunday, the students said: "Government should not be in a position to make decisions about what constitutes appropriate content in art."

The students also said they never had an agreement with park officials and any such contract would be "unconstitutional."

"We were never made aware of any agreement between the NYC Parks Department and the Brooklyn College Administration regarding any restrictions on the nature of the content shown in student exhibitions in the space," according to the statement.

The students want the show reopened _ with a disclaimer to the public posted outside the memorial building _ or moved to a comparable venue.

Last week, the college's provost said the show would be moved to the campus, a move the art students oppose.

The students plan to meet Monday with Brooklyn College officials to discuss the matter, according to the statement.

The student show, a graduation requirement, is the thesis for the MFA degree.

The exhibition had been scheduled to run through May 25.

Brooklyn College MFA Students Demand Show Be Re-opened

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

Brooklyn College MFA Students Demand Show Be Re-opened

Citing First Amendment Rights, Students Unify in Opposition to Provost Matthews’ Decision to Move Works to College Campus

NEW YORK (May 7, 2006) Citing First Amendment rights which provide for freedom of expression in a public space, the Brooklyn College MFA Students whose works have been locked up and censored by the NYC Parks Department since last Thursday, have just announced their unified decision to oppose Brooklyn College Provost Roberta S. Matthews’ decision that their works be moved to the Brooklyn College Campus.

The students release this official message:

The closing of the Brooklyn College MFA Thesis exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial constitutes an act of censorship on the part of the NYC Parks Department.

We were never made aware of any agreement between the NYC Parks Department and the Brooklyn College Administration regarding any restrictions on the nature of the content shown in student exhibitions in the space. Furthermore, any such contract would be unconstitutional.

The closing of the show violates our first amendment rights for freedom of expression in a public space, for which there are several precedents. Government should not be in a position to make decisions about what constitutes appropriate content in art.

The position of the artists is that the show must be re-opened in its current space by the NYC Parks Department with a disclaimer to the public posted at the entrance of the exhibition if necessary.

At this point there has been no offer of an acceptable alternative space for the show.

We are requesting that supporters petition the Brooklyn College Administration, the NYC Parks Department and all local and state public officials to reopen the Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Exhibition in the Brooklyn War Memorial in its entirety, in the name of the first amendment and free speech.

Alternatively, If the show will not be re-opened by the Parks Department, the artists request an alternative venue that is equal or better in location and square footage to the Brooklyn War Memorial, and the financial support of Brooklyn College in handling such a move to a new space. This is due to the nature of the site-specific installations that were created for this particular space.

Students will be meeting tomorrow morning with Brooklyn College Provost Roberta S. Matthews, and will be attempting to schedule meetings with President Christoph M. Kimmich and NYC Parks Commissioner, Adrian R. Benepe, in attempts to resolve the matter. The students are also awaiting a message from the Mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, in hopes they he will override the unilateral decision of Julius Spiegel, or at least help to resolve the situation. However, if necessary, the students are prepared to take legal action to ensure that their art work is exhibited.

The student show, mounted as a graduation requirement for the Master of Fine Arts Degree at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, was suddenly shut down at about 3:30PM on Thursday, May 4, 2006, by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel. This Saturday the students held a rally, with faculty and community members, in front of the Brooklyn War Memorial, chanting “Unlock the Art,” “Free Plan B” (the name of their thesis exhibition”, and “Free Speech Now.”

The artists in the exhibition include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

The exhibition was scheduled to be open through May 25th at the Brooklyn College Art Gallery at the Brooklyn War Memorial Building, Cadman Plaza, in downtown Brooklyn. For further information or to voice your support for the reopening of Plan B, visit http://plancensored.blogspot.com.

Brooklyn College students protest shut down of exhibit (AP)

Copyright 2006 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 7, 2006 Sunday 11:53 PM GMT

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL

LENGTH: 306 words

HEADLINE: Brooklyn College students protest shut down of exhibit

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:

A group of Brooklyn College Master of Fine Arts students demanded an exhibit of their work be reopened after city park officials shut it down.

The students say parks officials violated their First Amendment rights Thursday when they closed the Brooklyn College MFA Thesis exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial.

Over the weekend dozens of students protested outside the memorial's locked doors.

The building near the Brooklyn Bridge is city-owned. City officials closed the show after receiving complaints about the exhibit that's called "Plan B."

The exhibit contained watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box. Another work featured a white pet rat.

The city Parks Department said an agreement with the college stipulated that art exhibits at the memorial be "appropriate for families."

In a statement released Sunday, the students said: "Government should not be in a position to make decisions about what constitutes appropriate content in art."

The students also said they never had an agreement with park officials and any such contract would be "unconstitutional."

"We were never made aware of any agreement between the NYC Parks Department and the Brooklyn College Administration regarding any restrictions on the nature of the content shown in student exhibitions in the space," according to the statement.

The students want the show reopened with a disclaimer to the public posted outside the memorial building or moved to a comparable venue.

Last week, the college's provost said the show would be moved to the campus, a move the art students oppose.

The students plan to meet Monday with Brooklyn College officials to discuss the matter, according to the statement.

The student show, a graduation requirement, is the thesis for the MFA degree.

The exhibition had been scheduled to run through May 25.

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2006

In Brooklyn, Art Students Rally Against Show Closing (NY Times)

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

May 7, 2006 Sunday
Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 1; Column 6; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 38

LENGTH: 534 words

HEADLINE: In Brooklyn, Art Students Rally Against Show Closing

BYLINE: By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

BODY:

Dozens of art students gathered outside the locked doors of a Brooklyn war memorial yesterday to protest the closing of a show of their work, saying that their college had abandoned them and that they might file a lawsuit against the city.

On Thursday, the Brooklyn parks commissioner ordered the city-owned building, near the Brooklyn Bridge, closed and the locks changed after visiting the exhibition and receiving several complaints about it.

The show, ''Plan B,'' featured the thesis work of students in Brooklyn College's master of fine arts program, many of whom turned out yesterday to the small but high-spirited rally outside the building, where they chanted, ''Free Plan B.''

''We're interested in putting political and legal pressure on the Parks Department, on the City Council, on the mayor,'' said Zoe Cohen, 28, president of the graduate art student union at the college.

But Warner Johnston, a spokesman for the parks commissioner, Julius Spiegel, said the exhibit violated the agreement that has allowed Brooklyn College students to use the memorial as a gallery so long as the art was appropriate for families.

''To the best of our knowledge, with the exception of the students, no public constituent has called the Parks Department to complain about the closing of the exhibit,'' Mr. Johnston said.

Norman Siegel, a lawyer and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, joined the rally, saying that the closing was ''quintessential censorship'' and that he would represent the students.

Mr. Siegel, who is also a graduate of Brooklyn College, described the dispute as the ''Brooklyn Museum of Art Jr.,'' a reference to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's attempt to cut off city funding to the Brooklyn Art Museum in 1999 after it showed a painting of the Virgin Mary that incorporated elephant dung.

Yesterday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's press office referred calls to the Parks Department.

Augusto Marin, whose artwork -- which included a plaster cast of his hand holding his penis -- was apparently among those deemed inappropriate, brought his children David, 8, and Juliette, 5.

Mr. Marin was asked if he would take his children to the exhibit. ''Under supervision, under the guidance of a responsible adult, absolutely,'' he said.

Michael Mallory, the chairman of Brooklyn College's art department, said that in his early conversations with the administration on Friday, college officials seemed inclined to back the students.

''By the afternoon, that had changed,'' he said. ''It was clear to me that it was a done deal.''

The college's provost, Roberta S. Matthews, issued a statement on Friday saying that the college would move the show to a campus location.

Colleen Roche, a spokeswoman for Brooklyn College, would only say that school officials supported the students' artistic freedoms.

Xico Greenwald, 28, a first-year M.F.A. student, came to the protest from his studio. He said there was a potential silver lining.

''There's no better way to bequeath street cred to a bunch of people who are about to enter the art world,'' he mused, ''than to deem their work officially avant-garde by saying it's too risque for the public.''

URL: http://www.nytimes.com

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2006

NY Times, NPR

We are in today's Sunday NY TIMES (May 7th), Metro Section

Also, NPR News (Sunday May 7th, 9:30am) announced that the Brooklyn College MFA Art Exhibit would be moving out of the Brooklyn War Memorial tomorrow, Monday May 8th.

PLEASE NOTE: We have not agreed to move the show.

Please send email to NYC & Brooklyn College officials and to the media. Some suggested contact information listed below.


- Brooklyn College Pres.Christoph M. Kimmich: mk@brooklyn.cuny.edu
- Brooklyn College Provost Roberta Matthews: rsmatthews@brooklyn.cuny.edu
- Adrian Benepe, NYC Parks Commissioner: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildpr.html
- Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor: www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
- WNYC News: publicity@wnyc.org. or go to http://www.wnyc.org/about/contact_us.html
- NY TIMES Letters To The Editor: letters@nytimes.com
- NY POST Letters To The Editor: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/letters_editor.htm

Protest at the War Memorial! Noon, 5/6/06

Today we protested at the Brooklyn War Memorial to protest the censorship of Plan B!

In attendance were 1st and 2nds year Brooklyn College MFA students, Art faculty - including the Art Department Chair and the Graduate Deputy, and various other supporters of our cause including Former Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel who spoke on behalf of the students and advised them on their plan of action. Siegal is a 1965 graduate of Brooklyn College.

The event was abundantly attended by the press (both print and television). The New York Times was there. Tonight coverage of our rally and our story will be on news channels 2, 4, 5, 9, and 11.

NY Times Article 5/6/06

The New York Times did a report on the closing of Plan B in today's paper.

Following is the full text of the article:

PARK OFFICIALS SHUT COLLEGE SHOW

By RANDY KENNEDY
Published: May 6, 2006

The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has done more to promote the arts than any in a generation, but that enthusiasm did not extend to a graduate-student art show that opened this week in a city-owned building near the Brooklyn Bridge. After visiting the exhibition, which featured a penis sculpture, a caged rat and a sexually charged video, the Brooklyn parks commissioner ordered it closed on Thursday and changed the locks to the building.

Warner Johnston, a spokesman for the Parks Department, said the decision was made by Julius Spiegel, the commissioner, who felt the work was not "appropriate for families." In that sense, Mr. Johnston said, it violated an agreement reached six years ago between the city and Brooklyn College for use of the building, a World War II memorial, as a space for the college's art shows.

After discussions yesterday with city officials, the college's provost, Roberta S. Matthews, said that in light of "the public nature of the space as well as its position as an honored war memorial," she had decided to relocate the show, called "Plan B," to the college's campus.

The college has long "supported our students' rights to freedom of artistic expression," she said in a statement.

"We are proud to display our student art here at the college," she said. Ms. Matthews declined to comment further about the issue.

A spokeswoman for the college said the Parks Department had never before raised objections about the nature of artwork in graduate shows.

The latest exhibition, devoted to the thesis projects of 18 Brooklyn College students who are pursuing master's degrees in fine arts, had opened on Wednesday night with the college's president and Ms. Matthews in attendance. But the following afternoon at the building at 195 Cadman Plaza West, a parks superintendent asked the students inside to leave and changed the locks.

"They didn't even ask us to close it or inform us first," said Tamas Veszi, one of the art students, who returned to the building yesterday to post a sign on its tall doors. It read "Plan C," with C as the first letter in "censored."

The students also set up a blog to spread the word about the closing — plancensored.blogspot.com — and announced plans for a rally today in front of the war memorial building to protest the decision.

Marni Kotak, a performance artist whose work in the show featured a mockup of a third-grade classroom with a live rat as class pet, said the students were outraged by the closing. "We were never told that there would be an issue with the kind of content that we showed," she said. "We had no idea that there would be any kind of problem at all."

In addition to the penis sculpture, the works in the show included a video with sexual overtones in which women are dressed as nuns. It also featured, among other things, abstract paintings and watercolors, photographs, video works and installation-type work using air-duct pipes and spheres of unfired clay.

Last year the National Coalition Against Censorship and the College Art Association wrote to the Parks Department to express their opposition to a rule being considered for the city's public art program, which the Parks Department helps to oversee. The rule was intended to exclude from the program art that demonstrated "a lack of proper respect for public morals or conduct or that includes material that is religious, political or sexual in nature."

Officials from the two organizations wrote that the rule would raise constitutional problems. "Surely a city that is home to world-class cultural institutions and is a major capital of the art world would be an object of ridicule if this rule were implemented," they added. After public hearings last year, the proposed rule was not put into effect.

Ms. Kotak said she and several other artists involved were "adamantly opposed" to moving the Brooklyn College show to the college campus and did not plan to cooperate with the transfer.

"The point of having the show at this space for the last few years was that there really wasn't the right kind of space on campus to do this," she said. "Some of this work is site-specific and is pretty large, like 30 by 30 feet. It's hard to imagine where it's going to be displayed the right way on campus."

For her the only positive development yesterday was that a Parks Department employee allowed her to enter the locked exhibition space to feed the rat in her installation.

"I was getting worried," Ms. Kotak said. "It hadn't had anything to eat in quite a while."

Contacts

Below is a list of people to contact for letters of complaint, petition, etc.

Please voice your opinion and support us!

Provost Roberta Matthews:
rsmatthews@brooklyn.cuny.edu
718-951-5864
3133 Boylan Hall
Brooklyn College
2900 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11210

Adrian Benepe, NYC parks commissioner:
http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildpr.html
Tel: (212) 360-1305, Fax: (212) 360-1345
The Arsenal
Central Park
830 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Commissioner:
(718) 965-8920
Litchfield Villa, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Tel: (718) 965-8900. Fax: (718) 965-8989

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President:
askmarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov

Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor:
www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

NYC Council:

for War Memorial Area:
yassky@council.nyc.ny.us

For Brooklyn College Area:
kendall stewart stewart@council.nyc.ny.us

US House of Representatives
Brooklyn College, 11th district:
major.owens@mail.house.gov

US Senators Schumer and Clinton:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress/?state=NY&azip=11210&lvl=C

Fox 5 news, 5/5/06

Fox Five News Report on May 5, 2006 at 10:30pm

Report of the Report by Pamela Gordon

James Ford of Fox Five News was in Downtown Brooklyn today reporting about the closure of Brooklyn College's MFA Thesis Exhibition. He reported that City Officials shutdown the exhibition for the public's own good. The Parks Department calls this exhibition inappropriate for families. He also claimed that the FCC prevented Fox Five from showing some of the works exhibited. Carla Aspenberg's work was shown during the report as interpretations of sex organs. John Avelluto's work was also shown during the report as a representation of shooting at racial stereotypes.

Works by Pamela Gordon, Chris Moss, Susan Dessel, and Sarah Phillips were also presented as examples of work in the exhibition. Marni Kotak represented students of the college and expressed that the artwork was being held hostage. Tamas Veszi also explained that the students were not given guidelines for hanging the exhibition. James Ford continued to report that the show would possibly be relocated on Monday. Kotak stated that the students would have to move the show at their own expense. Kotak later mentioned that she was let into the War Memorial to feed her pet rat. James Ford closed his report by mentioning the protest planned for Saturday, May 6 at noon that will be held in front of the War Memorial.

Urgent: Plan C in Need of Photos and Video of Exhibition

Hello Everyone,

As the exhibition was only open for a very short period of time, many of the artists were not able to adequately document their work and the show.

Therefore, we are asking that anyone who attended the exhibition and took any photos or video documentation, to kindly provide us with copies to use in our press outreach. The sooner we get this documenation the better. Small jpegs should be emailed asap to marnikotak@yahoo.com. Larger files and copies of video documentation should be burned onto cd's/dvd's and mailed to: Marni Kotak, 306 Suydam Street, 1L, Brooklyn, NY 11237.

When sending the documenation, please include caption descriptions of the content of the photo/video as well as your name for the photo/video credit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Marni Kotak

Article run in the Brooklyn Eagle today

HEADLINE:
Busted at War Memorial
SUBHEAD
Sexual Content Closes
MFA Students Art Show

By Beth C. Aplin
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN -- Brooklyn College's Masters of Fine Arts
students were shocked to discover that their thesis exhibition at the
War Memorial Building at Cadman Plaza was shut down yesterday by
Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel.

Marni Kotak, one of student artists, said the commissioner
closed the show in the early afternoon due its sexual content, and
locked the building preventing both the artists and the public from
gaining access to the work. The exhibition had its opening reception
Wednesday evening and was scheduled to continue through May 25.
"They said they would give us this weekend to get our stuff
out," said Kotak. " Brooklyn College has been exhibiting in this
building for a couple of years. They never told us there was a code we
had to follow."

Of the 18 students whose work on display, two had works
containing explicit sexual content: Augusto Marin's work featured
penises obscured by framed lightboxes, and Carl James Ferrero had
watercolors depicting graphic gay sexuality.

The War Memorial Building was dedicated in the early 1950s as a
memorial to World War II veterans. It contains the names of every WWII
veteran from Brooklyn who died. It has been sporadically used for many
years.

Brooklyn College is part of the City University system, and
Kotak questioned the message that the Parks Department was
sending. If you go to City University, you have to be careful what
you show? Part of her installation, a recreation of an elementary
school classroom, included a pet rat in a glass enclosure.
The pet rat needs to be feed, or else it will die, she said,
adding that she hoped to gain access before the weekend.
A Parks Department spokesperson didn't return phone calls by
press time.



Beth Aplin
718 422 7435
fax 718 858 4483
beth@brooklyneagle.net

please see www.brooklyneagle.com

Article from Crain's

Here is a link to an article on Crain's regarding the shut down of the exhibition.

Apparetly this was the decision of ONE person, the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Julius Spiegel. It is important to him that the work "be suitable for families."

The article fails to mention that we, the students do not advocate moving the show back to Brooklyn College as there is NO space for us there and will not let it be moved without our permission.

Full text of the article is below:

Brooklyn College art exhibit shut over content
by David Jones

The Brooklyn Parks Commissioner shut down an exhibit at the Brooklyn College Art Gallery after receiving complaints about the sexual content of some of the works.

Commissioner Julius Spiegel ordered the exhibit -- located inside the Brooklyn War Memorial Building in Cadman Plaza -- shut down Thursday afternoon after deciding that the content violated an agreement with the college that all exhibits remain family friendly.

"It’s important to the commissioner that the work be suitable for families," said Warner Johnston, spokesman for the Parks Department.

The Plan B exhibit, part of graduate requirements for the Masters of Fine Arts program, featured works from 18 graduate students whose works ranged from watercolor, sculpture, video and performance art, according to Marni Kotak, participating artist and spokeswoman for the exhibit.

Ms. Kotak says that three graduate students who were monitoring the exhibits, which included a watercolor featureing gay male sexuality and a sculpture of penises in a lightbox, were ordered to leave the premises and were locked out of the building on Thursday.

The exhibit had been approved by Brooklyn College faculty and the Wednesday night opening was attended by the president and Brooklyn College Provost Roberta Matthews. "The faculty knew ahead of time what was going to be in the exhibit," said Ms. Kotak. Still, Brooklyn College has opted to move the exhibit rather than fight the shutdown.

"In keeping with the public nature of the space, as well as its position as an honored war memorial, Brooklyn College has respectfully decided to move the entire student exhibit to our campus," said Ms. Matthews in a statement.

When asked if any other city officials were consulted prior to the shutdown, Mr. Johnston insisted that the commissioner "made the decision on his own."

Brooklyn College MFA Show Shut Down Hits AP Wire

Copyright 2006 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 5, 2006 Friday 9:35 PM GMT

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL

LENGTH: 453 words

HEADLINE: Sexy Brooklyn art exhibit shut down by city officials

BYLINE: By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:


It's not all about the sex there's also a hungry rat involved.

An art show that includes a live pet rat was shut down by New York City officials just a day after its debut this week, leaving the rodent locked in a Brooklyn building with the artwork, said Marni Kotak, one of 18 Brooklyn College artists whose works are on display.

"What was such an emergency that they had to immediately shut down the show, without talking to us?" Kotak asked.

The exhibit, which also includes watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box, opened Wednesday at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, which is used as gallery space by Brooklyn College. The school is part of the City University of New York, or CUNY, which is run by New York City.

On Thursday afternoon, a parks official made a surprise appearance at the memorial. The gallery space in downtown Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza was quickly closed.

"The memorial supervisor came with a locksmith and had the locks changed. And he told the artists they had to leave the building immediately," Kotak said.

The Department of Parks issued a statement saying that an agreement with Brooklyn College stipulated that the space could be used for art exhibits provided they be "appropriate for families."

While the opening "was a success," said Kotak, "it seems somebody who came to the opening complained."

The "somebody" was the Brooklyn parks commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who decided to close the exhibit art that's part of a Brooklyn College graduation requirement for students completing their master's degree.

"We've been working with the faculty, and the provost came to the show. There was never any mention to us that this would be an issue and now, we're being punished," Kotak said, adding, "We've all worked so hard to get the show together, we've invested thousands of hours."

The closing will not affect their academics, but the students planned a rally in front of the memorial on Saturday. And they're fielding comments on a blog advertising the protest with the come-on, "Bring your uncensored self and everyone you know!"

Kotak's main worry Friday was her white pet rat, Daisy, who was in her cage behind locked doors.

"I set up an installation of a third-grade classroom in which the rat was a symbol of bad behavior: It's very cute and sweet, but has a very bad connotation," said the artist of her pet's role in the exhibit.

Never mind art even a rat has to eat.

As Kotak headed for the locked-up exhibit Friday, she said: "I'm going to try to feed it. It's been two days."

She later reported that a parks employee let her in and she fed Daisy. The exhibit door was promptly locked again.

On the Net:

Students' blog: http://www.plancensored.blogspot.com

Public Statement Issued by Provost Matthews Regarding MFA Exhibition Shut Down - Need Responses from All MFA Students ASAP

"In keeping with the public nature of the space, as well as its position as an honored war memorial, Brooklyn College has respectfully decided to move the entire student exhibit to our campus. Brooklyn College has a long tradition of educating fine artists. Throughout, the administration of the College has supported our students' rights to freedom of artistic expression. We are proud to display our student art here at the College."

Email me asap with your responses at marnikotak@yahoo.com

PLAN P(ROTEST)

There will be a rally tomorrow at NOON in front of the Brooklyn War Memorial to protest the closing of Plan B.

Bring your uncensored self and everyone you know!

Art supplies, body paint, music, balloons, bubbles, costumes, banners, sidewalk chalk, frisbees, etc... are all welcome.

D I R E C T I O N S:

195 Cadman Plaza West,
Brooklyn, NY
(btw Tillary & Prospect)


A/C to High St
2/3 to Clark St.

Google Map

Support from CAA and NCAC

The College Art Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship are supporting us in a letter they have sent to Alessandro G. Olivieri, General Counsel of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.

This letter has been posted on the College Art Association's Advocacy section.

Ellen Levy, College Art Association President will be drafting a letter soon.

Thank You!

Thanks to all who have written in to voice their support! We are so gratefull for your advice and love.

Keep spreading the word!

All of us are working furiously at negotiations and getting the word to the press and we will keep you updated. Please keep checking the blog for more info!

All the best,

Brooklyn College MFA Class of 2006

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press inquiries, please contact:
Marni Kotak
marnikotak@yahoo.com
917-692-1938

BROOKLYN COLLEGE/CUNY MFA THESIS SHOW SHUT DOWN BY CITY

BROOKLYN PARKS COMMISSIONER CENSORS SHOW FOR SEXUAL CONTENT

NEW YORK (May 4, 2006) After a successful and well-attended opening last night, the Brooklyn College MFA thesis exhibition, Plan B, held at the Brooklyn War Memorial, was suddenly shut down this afternoon by the Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner because of complaints of sexual content.

The student show, mounted as a graduation requirement for the Master of Fine Arts Degree at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, apparently received complaints for explicit subject matter from one or more visitors to the May 3 opening, and was ordered immediately shut down by the Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel. This came as a surprise to the students who have been working under the direction of Brooklyn College faculty in a program administered by the City of New York. The exhibition was even attended by the President and Provost of Brooklyn College, who reported that they enjoyed the show.

Today at approximately 3:30pm, MFA students Sarah Phillips, Yejin Jun and Christopher Moss, monitoring the exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial, were ordered by the Brooklyn War Memorial Building Supervisor to immediately leave the premises as a locksmith working for the Parks Department changed the locks and refused to allow the students to re-enter the space.

Locked within the space is the artwork of the program’s eighteen graduating artists, developed over two years of intensive graduate study. Each of the artists has invested thousands of hours of labor as well as the costs of for tuition and art supplies in developing the work presented in this thesis exhibition, the culmination of their graduate study. Some of the artists have even created large scale, site-specific works specifically for the exhibition, and would have to completely destroy the pieces in order to move them. A pet rat included in one of the installations is currently in need of food and in danger of starvation if the artist cannot get in to monitor her work and feed the animal.

The artists in the exhibition include: Carla Aspenberg, Jill Auckenthaler, John Avelluto, Zoe Cohen, David Davron, Susan C. Dessel, Carl James Ferrero, Carrie Fucile, Pamela Gordon, Yejin Jun, Diane Kosup, Marni Kotak, Augusto Marin, Akiko Mori, Christopher Moss, Sarah Phillips, Megan Piontkowski and Tamas Veszi.

The exhibition was scheduled to be open through May 25th at the Brooklyn College Art Gallery at the Brooklyn War Memorial Building, Cadman Plaza, in downtown Brooklyn. The opening was held last night, May 3, from 6 to 9pm.

The facts as we know them

On May 4, 2006 MFA students at Brooklyn College were surprised to find their exhibition shut down the day after a successful and well-attended opening.

MFA students were monitoring the show at the Brooklyn War Memorial when, at about 3:00pm, a locksmith arrived to change the locks and a building supervisor insisted they leave immediately.

Later, Maria Rand, the Brooklyn College Gallery Director reached Julius Spiegel, Borough Parks Commissioner, who said he had received complaints about 2 or 3 works containing sexual content.

This exhibition, entitled "Plan B" was scheduled to run through May 25.

Please email plancensored@gmail.com if you have any help you can offer us.