Summary 'Giuliani Vows to Cut Subsidy over ‘Sick’ Art'

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Summary In “Giuliani Vows to Cut Subsidy over ‘Sick’ Art,” Barry and Vogel discuss Rudolph Giuliani’s opposition to a pending exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. It is talking about an art exhibit set to open in a week in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The problem with this exhibit is that it is generally referred to as “sick” and “gross” not only by the people of New York, but also churches, animal rights groups and even Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Rudolph Giuliani is so offended by the exhibit that he is trying to take all government funding away from the museum unless they terminate an exhibit that is supposed to open next week. The mayor was offended by most of the catalogue which includes dead animals, a human statue made of blood, and, the one he found most offensive, the Virgin Mary depicted using a piece of elephant manure on a cloth. Mayor Giuliani says, ‘You do not have the right to government subsidy for desecrating somebody else’s religion. (561)’ What he means is that the government is not going to pay the museum to have this portrait stained with elephant compost in its exhibit when so many people have a strong religious belief in the Virgin Mary and see this as defiling their beliefs. With a $23 million annual budget, the museum receives close to $7 million annually in operating cost from the city. The city provides more than 30 percent of the annual cost and has set aside almost $20 million more to do work on the museum. The reason why the city thinks it can do this is because the city pays the museum with tax money and it is located in a city owned and operated building. One popular animal rights group known as PETA was also offended by the exhibit, with their focus on two pieces; a shark hanging in a container of formaldehyde and half of a cow floating in reservoir of formaldehyde. Both of these pieces were created by Damien Hurst. The
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