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February 9, 2007

Brooklyn Public Library censors exhibit of controversial plan?

Is it possible that the Brooklyn Public Library has been cowed by Bruce Ratner?

Yesterday, The Real Estate Observer broke the story that the Brooklyn Public Library will "re-mount the 'Brooklyn Footprints' exhibit that debuted in October at a multi-cultural center in Prospect Heights," only it will not include "the more overtly critical pieces."

"We could have said, you can take all of it or nothing, and we didn't say that." But, [curator Dan] Sagarin continued, "It hurt me. I would have to tell some of our artists, whom I had begged to do these works in the first place, that they would not be shown at the library."

Later in the day REO posted the Brooklyn Public Library's response to the omissions, which explained that the library was "publicly funded" (so is Ratner's Atlantic Yards for that matter), but gave no specific explanation for why certain pieces would not be included except to say that the library was "non-partisan."

The breaking controversy elicited an online statement from Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which observed, "A web of political fear seems to be widening across Brooklyn."

REO also reported that one of the banned artists, Donald O'Finn, who is also a plaintiff in the eminent domain lawsuit, will be exhibiting the censored artwork at Freddy's, his bar in the footprint of Atlantic Yards, in an exhibit titled, "Salon des Refusés de la Bibliothèque de Brooklyn." Touché!

NoLandGrab weekend contributor Amy Greer found herself in the awkward position of having one photo accepted for the "Footprints Lite" exhibit at Brooklyn Public Library, but two which were not.

When asked why she thought two of her photos were rejected, the bewildered photographer posited, "Maybe the other photos were just too colorful."

Here's a no-brainer: try to guess which one of Greer's photos was accepted (click on images to enlarge).

Posted by lumi at February 9, 2007 8:35 AM