Taking Offense: When Art and the Sacred Collide

Wednesday, 25 April 2012 | 6 – 8 p.m.
Pope Auditorium | Lowenstein Center | Lincoln Center Campus

A film showing ants crawling over the body of the crucified Jesus; a portrait of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant dung; the projection of Qur’anic text on a naked female body—these and other recent works have pitted outraged believers against strident defenders of artistic freedom.

Should sacred images be exempt from critical, negative, or even novel portrayal? Do defenders of transgressive artworks test their judgment against what they themselves hold “sacred,” including secular martyrs and movements? Are there issues beyond free expression and purely aesthetic standards? Should standards of human dignity or respect for others’ sensibilities shape the responses of audiences, curators, critics, artists, and thoughtful people generally?

Panelists
Camille Paglia, art and culture critic and University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts, Philadelphia

Dana Gioia, poet, critic, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture, University of Southern California

Moderator
Matthew Maguire, actor, director, playwright, and theater program director, Fordham University

Free and open to the public

For more information, contact RSVP at (212) 636-7347 or crcevent@fordham.edu.

For additional information, please visit www.fordham.edu/ReligCulture.