Over the weekend, P.S.1 in Long Island City housed Brooklyn Is Burning, an event curated by Sarvia Jasso and Andres Bedoya that promotes and embraces artistic expression. So certainly the museum that welcomed such an event into their space would also embrace all forms of art... right? Well, it seems even P.S.1 has its limits.
At the event Saturday night, artist Ann Liv Young criticized the performance of Georgia Sagri, who was on before her. According to one report from an audience member, "she viciously insulted Georgia, peed in a bowl, stripped, masturbated... and got into a shouting match with several people in the audience," including Sagri—who left the room when Young began masturbating in front of her (so 1972). Sagri later came back and gave the artist the finger—and sometime after this incident the museum decided to cut the power. Left without lights or a working mic, Young allegedly finished up her performance by simply pouring the aforementioned bucket of urine over herself.
Morty Diamond was scheduled to go on next, and while his performance was briefly illuminated, the museum ended up turning the power off again. His piece, about being transgender, also involved nudity—and he went through with it in the dark.
The curators of the event say, "P.S.1 acted alone in its attempt to shut down the event and censor an artist. We reject censorship in any form and disagree with P.S.1’s actions." We've asked the museum why they decided to censor these performances, and will update when they give us their comment. (And note: the last image in the gallery is NSFW!)
UPDATE: Morty Diamond requested the video be taken down, and the videographer has told us, "I had his total consent to upload it but now that there has been such attention drawn to it he wishes it be taken down."
Also, the Brooklyn is Burning duo updated their website to say their earlier statement "does not reflect the opinions of all artists or co-curator Sarvia Jasso. There are other opinions in this matter."
UPDATE II: P.S.1 tells us, "The decision by the Director of P.S.1 to curtail the performances near the end of Saturday Sessions was made to safeguard the audience, performers, and P.S.1 staff from an escalating and potentially volatile situation. The performers' actions were not previously discussed with or planned by P.S.1."
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