"A storm of controversy broke out in the US in 1990 over a travelling retrospective of the work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati found itself in the national spotlight, when it took on conservative groups bent on branding Mapplethorpe’s work as pornography. The institution and its director Dennis Barrie were put on trial on obscenity charges, which they successfully argued against, but the fall-out of those culture wars continues to be felt and questions of artistic and institutional censorship are still alive 25 year later. This month, two events tied to the historic exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment aim to further these conversations."
Original Article: http://theartnewspaper.com/news/160907/