Koch Arts Center , also known as Mark Arts, and which have stayed with me as food for thought since then. Guest curated by Wichita photographer and arts educator Amanda Pfister, the show was timely and full of excellent artwork. To the extent that the show had a message, the only overarching one was that living as a woman encompasses a diverse array of possible experiences and emotions, from joy and pride to sorrow and anger and much in between.
Most of the artists also live in Wichita or the Great Plains region. Those upset with works in the exhibition β which featured content warnings at the entrance β reportedly yelled at, berated, and threatened art center staff. The sources of upset were artworks that acknowledged, among other things, that lesbian relationships, pregnancy loss, sex work, and sexual assault exist. A police officer appeared at the venue during public hours to offer security.
In early May, the artist was asked to temporarily conceal or remove her piece during a private event β a contingency stipulated in the contract artists sign when showing at Mark Arts.
The artist took this to be an act of censorship and modified the work permanently by putting all the tools into a cardboard box that sat closed on top of a pedestal. All these concurrent kerfuffles are an important impetus for a larger conversation about what roles art institutions play in their communities and what might be a reasonable baseline of expectations in a relationship between an institution and audience members who disagree with the art on view.
The art center also avowed a desire to serve as a space that invites visitors to consider difficult topics and varied viewpoints. Indeed, serving as amplifying decor in spaces used for public displays of ritual, power, or prestige is an important function that art has served historically. Layered on top of that function, however, is a kind of purpose parfait whose strata date to different historical eras and discourses. It is the paradigm they function in; a feature and not a bug.
