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Date: 2016

Region: North America

Subject: Explicit Sexuality Nudity

Medium: Film Video Mixed Media Painting Sculpture

Artist: John Emerson, Brie Ruais

Confronting Bodies: Anderson Ranch Arts Center

Dates of Action: December 2016

Location: Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snow Mass, Colorado

Description of Artwork: The group exhibition in the Patton Mallot Gallery at Anderson Ranch was to include the work of David Aipperspach, John Emerson, Jessica Harvey, Ethan Jackson, Katie Lewis, Wade Folger MacDonald, Julie Malen and Adrien Segal.

Wade Folger MacDonald proposed a show of Anderson Ranch former residents to be co-curated by himself and Julie Malen at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Colorado in June of 2016. The show was accepted by Jose Ferreira, the sculpture director at Anderson Ranch. Of the 14 artists invited, 10 accepted the invitation to show.

The artists worked in a diverse range of styles and mediums. Brie Ruais' work involved a video recording from the ceiling. She performed a piece by spreading clay out on the ground in the nude. The vantage point of the camera view was such that only her back was exposed to the audience.

The Incident: The Center censored work they deemed innapropriate for their audience. The group exhibition in the Patton Mallot Gallery at Anderson Ranch was to include the work of Brie Ruais. Her work involved a video recording from the ceiling to view what she was doing on the ground. Brie performed a piece by spreading clay out on the ground in the nude. The nature of this camera view exposed only her back to the audience. Brie's work was taken out of the exhibition because of a child protection policy which was written in the resident handbook. this frustrated and disturbed many of the artists as they did not receive any information telling them what was or was not appropriate for the exhibition, rather the work was taken out without any explanation.

All of the artists were required to sign a gallery agreement. In this agreement there is no mention of nudity or a child protection policy whatsoever, and nothing that says what is or isn't appropriate for the Paton Mallot Gallery.

The reason for removing Bries work was that of a child protection policy that is written in the resident handbook. That information was not provided as part of the gallery's rules during the vetting of work selected for the show. All of the artists in the show were very upset/confused and want to do something about it. The ranch should be clear about these things for future exhibitions providing all of the information required to make the kind of call about removing work. They later made a statement to all staff at Anderson Ranch, after some buzz on the matter of censorship, that the decision to remove Brie Ruais's work from the show was a curatorial decision.

John Emerson's sculpture 'Pokey the Bear' was also singled out. The artist was told the sculpture could be shown in the gallery but not in it's entirety. The sculpture is a large steel pink bear that stands on a concrete blue ball and wears a furry strap and harness with a large urethane rainbow dildo. The dildo/strap was not to be included for the show. However, the artist decided to attach the strap four days after the show opened in order to take some photos. At the time, the ranch property was closed to all visitors and only open to staff. The artist then posted pictures of the piece in its entirety on facebook, where other images of his piece were posted, but not in context of the show at the ranch.

Results of Incident: Emerson and his wife, who were employed at the ranch, were terminated soon afterwards.

Source: Image of John Emerson's 'Pokey the Bear' courtesy the artist. Censorship: A World Encyclopedia

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 <onlyinclude>
-====Date: [[:Category:1868|1868]] [[:Category:1870|1870]] [[:Category:1871|1871]]====
+====Date: [[:Category:2016|2016]]====
-====Region: [[:Category:Europe|Europe]]====
+====Region: [[:Category:North America|North America]]====
-====Subject: [[:Category:Religious|Religious]] [[:Category:Explicit Sexuality|Explicit Sexuality]]====
+====Subject: [[:Category:Explicit Sexuality|Explicit Sexuality]] [[:Category:Nudity|Nudity]]====
-====Medium: [[:Category:Literature|Literature]]====
+====Medium: [[:Category:Film Video|Film Video]] [[:Category:Mixed Media|Mixed Media]] [[:Category:Painting|Painting]] [[:Category:Scultpture|Sculpture]]====
 ----
-[[File:Confessional.jpg|thumb|link=The_Confessional_Unmasked]]
+[[File:Pokey_the_Bear.jpg|thumb|link=Reflections_on_Synthetic_Action_(exhibition)]]
-'''Artist:''' The Protestant Electoral Union
+'''Artist:''' John Emerson, Brie Ruais
-'''Confronting Bodies:''' The British government, the Roman Catholic Church
+'''Confronting Bodies:''' Anderson Ranch Arts Center
-'''Dates of Action:''' 1868, 1870, 1871
+'''Dates of Action:''' December 2016
-'''Location:''' Great Britain
+'''Location:''' Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snow Mass, Colorado
-'''Description of Artwork:''' The Confessional Unmasked was a pamphlet put out by the Protestant Electoral Union with the purpose of exposing the immorality of the practice of hearing confessions. The pamphlet was made up of the works of various Catholic theologians and contained descriptions of sexual concerns women confessed to priests.
+'''Description of Artwork:''' The group exhibition in the Patton Mallot Gallery at Anderson Ranch was to include the work of David Aipperspach, John Emerson, Jessica Harvey, Ethan Jackson, Katie Lewis, Wade Folger MacDonald, Julie Malen and Adrien Segal.
-'''The Incident:''' The Obscene Publications Act of 1857 gave the police of England and Wales the power to seize material they believed to be obscene and to get permission for the destruction of these materials from magistrates. The Confessional Unmasked was seized under this law but an appeal was made by the recorder, Benjamin Hicklin on the grounds that it was not intentionally obscene, that its intentions were to unmask immorality, and that only parts of the book were obscene. The court, however, upheld the order for destruction of the pamphlet. Out of this case came an important definition of obscenity made by Justice Cockburn who said "I think the test of obscenity is this, whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to immoral influences, and into hands a publication of this sort may fall." This definition, though unclear, was adopted not only in England but in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India. The order for destruction did not stop people from selling The Confessional Unmasked and in 1870 a lecturer employed by the Protestant Union, George Mackay, was prosecuted for selling the pamphlet. The Union then went on to publish A Report Of The Trial of George Mackay with a new issue of The Confessional Unmasked included. These were seized and destroyed in 1871 by police.
+Wade Folger MacDonald proposed a show of Anderson Ranch former residents to be co-curated by himself and Julie Malen at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Colorado in June of 2016. The show was accepted by Jose Ferreira, the sculpture director at Anderson Ranch. Of the 14 artists invited, 10 accepted the invitation to show.
-'''Results of Incident:''' It is not known whether the pamphlet continued to circulate after their seizure in 1871, but the court decision that originally ordered the pamphlet's destruction came to be known as the "Hicklin Rule" and had lasting importance.
+The artists worked in a diverse range of styles and mediums. Brie Ruais' work involved a video recording from the ceiling. She performed a piece by spreading clay out on the ground in the nude. The vantage point of the camera view was such that only her back was exposed to the audience.
-'''Source:''' Censorship: A World Encyclopedia
+'''The Incident:''' The Center censored work they deemed innapropriate for their audience. The group exhibition in the Patton Mallot Gallery at Anderson Ranch was to include the work of Brie Ruais. Her work involved a video recording from the ceiling to view what she was doing on the ground. Brie performed a piece by spreading clay out on the ground in the nude. The nature of this camera view exposed only her back to the audience. Brie's work was taken out of the exhibition because of a child protection policy which was written in the resident handbook. this frustrated and disturbed many of the artists as they did not receive any information telling them what was or was not appropriate for the exhibition, rather the work was taken out without any explanation.
+All of the artists were required to sign a gallery agreement. In this agreement there is no mention of nudity or a child protection policy whatsoever, and nothing that says what is or isn't appropriate for the Paton Mallot Gallery.
+The reason for removing Bries work was that of a child protection policy that is written in the resident handbook. That information was not provided as part of the gallery's rules during the vetting of work selected for the show. All of the artists in the show were very upset/confused and want to do something about it. The ranch should be clear about these things for future exhibitions providing all of the information required to make the kind of call about removing work. They later made a statement to all staff at Anderson Ranch, after some buzz on the matter of censorship, that the decision to remove Brie Ruais's work from the show was a curatorial decision.
+John Emerson's sculpture 'Pokey the Bear' was also singled out. The artist was told the sculpture could be shown in the gallery but not in it's entirety. The sculpture is a large steel pink bear that stands on a concrete blue ball and wears a furry strap and harness with a large urethane rainbow dildo. The dildo/strap was not to be included for the show. However, the artist decided to attach the strap four days after the show opened in order to take some photos. At the time, the ranch property was closed to all visitors and only open to staff. The artist then posted pictures of the piece in its entirety on facebook, where other images of his piece were posted, but not in context of the show at the ranch.
+'''Results of Incident:''' Emerson and his wife, who were employed at the ranch, were terminated soon afterwards.
+'''Source:''' Image of John Emerson's 'Pokey the Bear' courtesy the artist. Censorship: A World Encyclopedia
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