Art or aren't? (opinion on art controversy)

December 17, 2001
Source: Canada.com
Original story - link verified on December 17, 2001

The galvanizing question of modern art -- is it art, or is it, uh, something else? -- stumps lay people, but it shouldn't trouble the professionals who present such work to the public. Yet the Banff Centre has apologized for an exhibit in which a student masturbated into seven vials and then displayed them. The apology was badly conceived; it unhelpfully explained that "some of (the artists) do work that is not mainstream." Whether it's mainstream doesn't matter. If it isn't art, the centre should admit that and apologize. But if it is, the centre should have the courage of its convictions and refuse to say sorry.

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