| Since the late 20th century, a new level of attention has been focused on inequality, difference, and struggles, putting Americans at center stage under the name of postmodernity. As visual culture has become a major player in this circumstance, this change has initiated doubt and protests over art, cultural representation, and freedom of expression. Nevertheless, the relationship between the form of outrage and conflict over artistic and revolutionary movements and community structure has still been underanalyzed. Moreover, it remains unclear as to why a single art event can receive different public reactions depending on the community in which it is held. Why do specific controversies erupt in some places but not in others? In response to this question, the empirical focus of this research is a case study of three high-profile traveling art exhibitions that were held at 12 different museums in 10 cities in the United States from 1988 to 2012. These cases gained prominence in local and national presses, drawing concern among scholars and the public about the exhibitions themselves, and encouraged increasingly public dialogue over religious and political entities and control. My research intends to provide a roadmap for the broader art world to understand the internal and external context-sensitive trajectories of social movement influences as public pedagogies while creating Temporary Autonomous Zone for an alternative public space. The importance of this research is to examine systematically neglected factors of art controversies that have had tremendous consequences for the art world and art education. As such, this research considers the emergent pedagogical implications associated between public outrage, community structures, and different museum outcomes and organizational systems. |
