Jim Goodwin
We’ll give ya
all ya want,
and lots of it
Dear Readers,
Arts & Entertainment is taking
the road less traveled this semester.
And you’re along for the ride.
This time around A&E promis
es to cover all aspects of entertain
ment and the arts, from origami to
the neo-Roman orgy. If our cover
age hasn’t piqued both the moral
concerns of University of Nebraska
Regent Robert Allen and the recre
ational curiosities of one-legged
midget, Catholic candymakers, we
haven’t done our job. Consequently,
our cats should be shaved by punks
while we sleep.
If you know of an event whose
participants’ attitudes are starched
beyond sobriety, let us know. We’ll
send either Bret Schulte (our token
liberal) or John Fulwider (our other
token liberal) to cover it, depending
on the slant with which you want us
to cover it.
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big screen, will fulfill all your cine
ma needs, including video release
updates and film reviews and pre
views, with a sprinkling of surpris
es to keep him young.
Liza Holtmeier is our diva of
live theater and dance and will
inform you of this previously
underpublicized aspect of the uni
versity. Likewise, local and campus
galleries also will be in the heat of
the A&E spotlight.
Sean McCarthy and Pat Miner
will kick it with live and recorded
music reviews and will let you in on
a few of Lincoln and UNL’s finest
secrets.
Finally, for good measure, we’ll
also feature guest writers and
columnists from time to time to
keep our perspectives fresh.
Essentially, folks, A&E is here
to remind our readers that life isn’t
the mundane cakewalk some of
them have been led to believe it is;
neither are the various communities
of which we are all members.
Lincoln is a regional hub of cre
ativity, and we want to showcase
that. This new and improved section
isn’t about acquiescing to the pow
ers that be, but rather, celebrating
the hood, athlete, priss, performer,
drone and droll in all of us.
From the most machismo to the
last bravissimo, wherever the arts
and/or entertainment lurk, we’ll be
there.
Just tell us how you like it.
Jim Goodwin, A&E Editor
Goodwin is a senior news-edi
torial major. His best friend’s
nickname is Chocolate.
By Bret Schulte and Jim Goodwin
Senior A&E Staff
The art world has marched under the banner of
free expression for decades, but now a new group
of individuals has picked up the flag. These indi
viduals are morally offended by the contemporary
art community’s standards, and are willing to exer
cise their own right of free expression to stop its
publication.
Among them is Lincoln resident Donna
Bockoven.
Bockoven drew attention last month when she
shredded a book in the aisles of Barnes & Noble,
5150 O St., because its contents included pho
tographs of nude, prepubescent girls.
“I don’t think it’s freedom of expression when it
uses children,” said Bockoven, who has received
local and out-of-state support for her action.
The offending book, “The Last Day of
Summer,” is a pictorial collection of children, ado
lescents and adults on the nude beaches of France’s
Atlantic coast.
The book’s creator, Jock Sturges, is globally
recognized and has produced work owned by
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the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Sheldon
Memorial Art Gallery. The Sheldon’s print also
appears in the disputed collection, which contains
a disclaimer stating that Sturges received the per
mission of all subjects and their legal guardians.
Master peace?
Bockoven’s bookstore outburst piqued the con
cern of the Lincoln Police Department’s Technical
Division Team, which now is investigating
Sturges’ materials sold through local bookstores.
Following the investigation, police will forward
their findings to the Lancaster County Attorney’s
office, which will decide if the book violates coun
ty obscenity laws.
Whether the outcome will have an impact on
publicly displayed collections containing Sturges’
photography remains to be seen, said Sgt. A1
Berndt, who is heading the police department’s
investigation.
“Museums and galleries are not in trouble at
this point in time,” Berndt said. “Once the report
has been reviewed, that will give us some guidance
about how to proceed with future complaints in this
matter.”
The Sheldon carries one 1987 Sturges piece,
“Marine, Jeanne, 2 Alexandras, and Gaelle
Standing; Montalivet, France.”
The approximately 16-inch by 20-inch
print features five nude females standing in a
jumbled single-file order on a French beach.
The girl in the foreground obviously is pre
adolescent, and leans in full frontal nudity
against the other four subjects.
The Sheldon purchased the photograph in 1991
from a Chicago gallery exclusively with money
from a private endowment fund. Tax money is not
used for the acquisition of the gallery’s pieces,
including the Sturges print, said Sheldon curator
Daniel Siedell.
“Marine, Jeanne, 2 Alexandras, and Gaelle
Standing; Montalivet, France” was featured in a
Sheldon exhibit last fall with several other pho
tographs celebrating the human body, but has not
been shown since. Siedell said he didn’t know if the
piece would be displayed again., although it is
available for study.
“The reason we have (the Sturges photograph)
is to provide as broad and in-depth a survey of
modern art in the United States as possible,”
Siedell said. “That includes the warts and all. We’re
not here to provide a fuzzy, feel-good collection.”
t or filth?
Controversial photograph remains part
f Sheldon’s permanent collection
Follow the leader
Meanwhile, Bockoven has
L received a flood of support not only
from friends and fellow church mem
bers, but also through numerous phone
calls from strangers living in and out
side Nebraska.
Bockoven said that if the county
attorney’s office does not find the Sturges materi
als in breech of child pornography laws - therefore
maintaining their local availability in stores - she
and her supporters would petition, picket and boy
cott those selling Sturges’ work.
In regards to the Sheldon, Bockoven said she
would have to see the piece before taking any
action.
“With her motives so clear, I don’t know if we
would allow her (to see the piece),” Siedell said.
“It’s available in a scholarly context, but if she’s
looking at the photograph simply to confirm
another agenda, then ‘no.’”
Bockoven said she first heard about Sturges’
work on KLCV, a local Christian radio station, dur
ing the nationally syndicated “Focus on the
Family” program. The broadcast informed listen
ers that Barnes & Noble bookstores carried “The
Last Day of Summer,” and said that the book fea
tured child pornography.
Prompted by the program, Bockoven’s hus
band Jeff, visited Barnes & Noble to discss the
book with a manager. After her husband m with
little success there, Bockoven decided to g< :> the
-.4._T_11__U ■
and set up an appointment they
could discuss the role of the muse
um as a representative of the mod
em art world, Siedell said.
Siedell, who is a born-again
Christian, believes that Bockoven’s
tactics amount to little more than
misdirected energy and propagate a
negative view of ardent Christians.
“My explicit criticism for
Christians in politics is that we are to
preach the gospel, not change soci
ety,” he said. “How does tearing up
a book change anything?”
A museum owning a work of
art and a store publicly selling it
are two different cases, Siedell
said. He further explained that the
museum’s responsibility and role
in displaying potentially contro
versial art is controlled, as is
who can view the art. This
effectively keeps it out of the
sight of children lacking
parental consent, Siedell
said.
The distribution
of potentially
pornographic
pieces through
books easily
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discuss the book, as well as the proximity o. it and
gay-and-lesbian literature to the children’s book
section, she took her complaint to the manager,
who walked away, she said.
“When the manager walked away I started to
rip out the pages,” Bockoven said. “Well, I think if
they are going to carry those kinds of materials
they should also be open to discussion about those
materials.”
Bockoven was cited for vandalism and paid for
the damaged book, which Lincoln police took into
custody to determine if it violated child pornogra
phy laws. An agreement was made that Bockoven
stop shopping at Barnes & Noble.
“I have no problems with that,” she said.
He said, she said
Lincoln’s Barnes & Noble is not undei
any investigation and still offers the
books on order, although they are not ^
in stock. The fact that Barnes & jA1
Noble has an image as a family JtM
bookstore made the accessibil- 9
lty of these books all the more 9
appalling, Bockoven said.
“(Barnes & Noble) has a 9
large children's section and they 9M
have people come in and do
readings for children, so to me 9
they are marketing themselves as 9
a family store,” she said. “(Also) 9
the gay and lesbian section had
pictures of men in bondage, 9
women with dildos and other 9
explicit photography. Clearly to 9
me, you don’t put materials like ^9
that close to the children’s sec- 9
tion.” jM
The fact that the ^9
Sheldon art gallery has
decided to leave the photo- 9
graph in its archives rather 9
than on display only proves iM
the fact that it is obscene, she yM
said. '^9
“It seems to me that the media 9
is trying to cover it up,” Bockoven 9|||i|
said. “Channel 7 did not show the 9
true pictures, and the reason they
did that is because people would 9
find it offensive and to me that's
the whole point.” ^9
If Bockoven wanted to JM
talk to museum officials