February 2008 Archives
The Body and the Public
The Boundary Between Pornography and Art
1. In this essay I am going to focus on Nan Goldin’ s photograph “Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing” owned by Elton John, which, perceived as exhibiting an explicitly sexual content and categorized as a child pornography, was seized from an art exhibition by the British police, and subsequently gave rise to a tremendous public outcry.
The essay will examine the problematic boundary between art and pornography, which, I will argue, stems from difficulties with producing strict definitions for both terms.
- I will present some definitions of pornography (www.plato.stanford.edu) and some of the problems with defining it.
-I will briefly discuss what the traditional discussion on pornography centers on (Conservative, Liberal and Feminist arguments for or against it).
This case presents a new type of a problem with pornography and significantly adds up to discourses on the topic. Child pornography as a sub-category evades the clash of arguments and contrasting opinions that characterize the adult pornography genre - Conservatives, Liberals and Feminists unanimously agree that child-pornography is exploitative of children and are categorical that it should be banned. However, a new problem with child-pornography, as presented specifically by Goldin’ s work, arises- the difficulty of recognizing a pornographic material as such. According to some of the definitions of pornography provided, there are specific areas where pornographic and artistic content may overlap.
2. I will look at some of the forums for discussion that have been opened to present public reactions to the problem. They reveal a striking divergence on how the work is perceived- dubbed an “absolute pornography” by some, considered by others to be the image of just an innocent play, third grant it the excusatory (in this context) title of “art”. The wide range of opinions on the work, many of them contrasting, evoke important questions about the consequences of the overlapping of art and pornography elements : Can it be both an innocent (non-staged) play and still be used for pornographic purposes? Could you argue that just because it is art it could not be (ab)used to serve the functions of pornography? Could you have control on the way the art work (created with whatever intentions and for whatever purposes) will be perceived at the end: by some as an image of innocence and spontaneity, by others as a sexually stimulating material triggering sexual fantasies and impulses.
3. I will categorize the answers into positive and negative.
-The positive answers center primarily on content (the work is what it presents, no sex involved so it is not pornographic). This is highly problematic- content, I will argue, is not the sole factor that determines the way a work is interpreted and viewed.
I will talk about meaning as being socially and culturally constructed. I will use John Berger (Ways of Seeing) and Kenneth Clarke (on Nudity) to demonstrate how one and the same thing could be seen in two completely different ways.
Others argue that as an art work its meaning is determined by the intentions of the artist, and she obviously did not intend to create a pornographic material. Yet, here the vulnerability of content must be discussed- there can be no control on the way a work will be approached by the audience.
I will use Roland Barthes’ “The Death of the Author” who discusses how the meaning of texts is constructed. This text is important for two reasons:
- it discusses the text as a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings blend and clash, writings drawn from many cultures
-it discusses the separation of the work from the author- a lack of a single “theological” meaning, the meaning is contingent on the viewer. In this sense Goldins work, which as a matter of fact includes the key material of every pornographic piece, could be given a meaning different from the original one and possesses the full capacity to also unproblematically serve a different, non-artistic function.
-here I might also include the implications of the original meaning of the work and its content being accessible only to the author- the scandal with the Bulgarian movie “Baklava” which features Bulgarian orphans. In one of the scenes two little boys are kissing. Only later, did the director explain that actually one of the kids is a girl and that they are a couple. However, this is not recognizable in the film, even from a second look. What acts stronger and is fundamental for our interpretation of the scene in this case: the reality or the impression?
- one of the participants in the forum, basing his argument again on content, argues that if this is pornography, then also all the Central European Baroque Churches adorned with naked playing putti also exhibit pornographic materials. Here, I will talk about the importance of the context in which a visual representation of exhibited- in terms of space and time. Goldin’s work is created and exhibited nowadays inside the parameters of a society facing the widely recognized problem of child-pornography/ moreover, the visual language of pornography could be recognized in the work, evoking immediate associations).
-The negative arguments present counter-arguments for the positive ones. They take into consideration:
-the importance of taking into account the diversity of the audience
-the fact that we are manipulated into, designed to, urged to (by the artist) to approach the work as gendered and sexualized subjects. We instantly recognize the visual language of pornography present in the work and we are forced to adopt the position which the artist has defined. One of the participants claims that this is just an allusion employed for artistic ends, but I will argue that if the allusion contains the capacity to serve the same purposes as what it alludes to then it is fundamentally the same thing.
-the awareness of the artist. She could have chosen a different angle in shooting the picture which would have created a different impression. She was fully conscious of the impact this view would create.
-(my argument) the work being called Belly-Dancing, not simply dancing or playing/this further narrows down the social and cultural context in which the work will be approached.
-the problem with the media- child pornography can be instantly recognized on the TV but what do we do when it is all left to our imagination.
-the establishment of a relationship between subject and object of view (I will focus a lot on this)
Douglas Crimp’s essay on Mappletorpe deals with that, The Sociology of Art: Ways of Seeing, The Body: Critical Concepts, The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality, texts that deal also with the importance of the historical context in conceptualizing the body.
4. By examining all the negative arguments I will attempt to explain how meaning of nudity is constructed in the public sphere. I will argue that understanding of the complex mechanisms of meaning construction and deciphering could be helpful in creating a clearer definition of child-pornography, and therefore a stricter and more explicit regulations about the creation of children’s images and their presentation in public space.
