UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 10, Page 4
November 7, 1991
Art center head to discuss Mapplethorpe contorversy

     Dennis Barrie, director of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC)
in Cincinnati and the man at the center of the controversy
surrounding the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, will speak at the
University on Wednesday, Nov. 13, as part of the Performing Arts
Series.
     His free public talk, "Robert Mapplethorpe, the First
Amendment and the Freedom of Expression" will begin at 7:30 p.m. in
140 Smith Hall. A reception will follow at the University Gallery
in Old College.
     In 1990, both Barrie and the CAC were indicted and later
acquitted of two criminal counts each of "pandering obscenity" and
"the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented materials." The
charges followed the opening of an exhibition of 175 Mapplethorpe
photographs, entitled "The Perfect Moment."  At issue were five
photographs that depicted homoerotic acts and two of seminude
children.
     The case is believed to be the first criminal trial of an art
museum arising from the contents of an exhibition.
     Barrie decided to open the exhibition despite mounting
pressure from a conservative group known as Citizens for Community
Values.  On opening day, a jury was impaneled and taken to view the
exhibition.  Within hours it issued the criminal indictments.
     On Oct. 5, 1990, a Cincinnati jury acquitted Barrie and the
museum of all charges.
     A question-and-answer session is scheduled after Barrie's
lecture, and at the conclusion of the session, he will show slides
of the exhibit, including the controversial photographs.  The
images contain explicit material, and audience members who do not
wish to view the slides will be given an opportunity to adjourn the
reception before the slide show.
     Barrie received a master's degree in American cultural history
from Oberlin College in 1970 and a Ph.D. from Wayne State
University in 1983.
     He served as Midwest director for the Smithsonian Institution
Archives of American Art before becoming director of CAC, one of
the nation's largest institutions dedicated to contemporary
programming.
     Barrie received the 1990 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award
for upholding the right of CAC to exhibit artworks it finds of
value. In 1988 and 1986, he received the Post-Corbett Award, a
regional award for achievement in the arts, and in 1983 received a
silver medal from the New York Film & Television Festival for best
documentary as the producer of Artists in America.
     He has served as an adviser and panelist for many regional and
national organizations, including the American Association of
Museum Directors and the Midwest Art Museums Advisory Panel. Barrie
and his wife, Diane, have two children.
     Barrie's talk is part of the University's Performing Arts
Series and is sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts, the
Delaware Art Museum, the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art and
the University offices of International Programs and Special
Sessions, the University Gallery, the Cultural Activities and
Public Events Committee of the Faculty Senate, the Museum Studies
Program and the departments of Theatre, Music, Art, Political
Science and Art History.
     For more information on the lecture or the Performing Arts
Series, contact Marti Collins in the Office of International
Programs and Special Sessions, telephone 451-2852.