The Museum of Censored Art was the brainchild of Michael Blasenstein and Michael Iacovone, the duo who were banned from all Smithsonian museums following their attempt to show David Wojnarowicz's video in the National Portrait Gallery after it had been removed from the institution's Hide/Seek exhibition on the history of gay identity in art. They screened A Fire in My Belly in the Gallery on an iPad suspended around Blasentein's neck with Iacovone shooting a video of the action.
Blasenstein and Iacovone later set up the Museum of Censored Art in a trailer outside the National Portrait Gallery where they attracted over 5,000 visitors to daily screenings of the censored video.
This link takes you to Wounded in the Crossfire of a Capital Culture War, the NYT's latest story on the collision of art and politics at the Smithsonian.
Image: The Museum of Censored Art set up outside the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery to screen David Wojnarowicz's video A Fire In My Belly.
