Thursday, August 21, 2008

Time for DC to be shamed

"Managers of a downtown office building yanked a sculpture called "Unmentionables . . . then and now" from an exhibition last week after tenants complained that the art was inappropriate.

The offending art, by Joyce Zipperer, was installed with other artwork in the lobby of the Washington Square building at 1050 Connecticut Ave. NW. "Unmentionables" consists of 10 styles of women's underwear -- from old-fashioned bloomers to a skimpy thong -- all made out of metal and strung along a clothesline."
So begins the story by Rachel Beckman in the Washington Post.

The complainers?
"Shortly after the installation went up on Aug. 3, a group of tenants complained to the building's manager, Cynthia Muller. Muller wouldn't say which tenants objected to the art, but the artist and curator say they were lawyers from two of the building's resident law firms."
As Beckman points out: "Of all the office buildings downtown, Washington Square is perhaps the oddest place for an underwear-art controversy: One of its tenants is Victoria's Secret."

Censored artwork by Joyce ZippererZipperer
Read the story here. Shame on you DC!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Some folks think lawyers are offensive? Can those people complain and force the lawyers to move out of the building?

Fairs fair after all.

Anonymous said...

Agreed on the D.C. shame.

The D.C. art scene is already struggling without people trying to create controversy of something so obviously nonthreatening.

fo

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Joyce!

Keep showing your underware!

:)