Artists protest Smithsonian for censoring art

For a more detailed background to this story, check out these posts on Hyperallergic.

Recently, a video, Fire in my belly, by David Wojnarowicz was removed from an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in DC after the religious right got upset about the content of the video. The video is about the death of a lover who died of complications resulting from AIDS. The particularly “offensive” footage is few seconds of ants crawling over a statue of Jesus on the cross, but it’s also been suggested that the objections to the piece stem from anti-gay sentiments. Whatever the exact reason, the censorship is some right-wing bullshit that shouldn’t be tolerated by the artistic community.

How this story sort of relates to street art is this: On Saturday, two artists went to the National Portrait Gallery and began playing Fire in my belly over an iPad outside the exhibit. This video shows what happened:

Check out Hyperallergic for more on this protest art.