Artists want complete control over their public exhibitions. Governments say it’s not that simple

PHOENIX — If things had gone as originally planned, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum would be launching its fall exhibition Friday. “Mesa’s intent is to emerge stronger out of this postponement, and we need to take our time to ensure we are putting the right processes in place,” the city said in a statement. I said, ‘OK, I’ll switch them out.” According to the city of San Mateo, neither city staff nor the committee that oversees art displays had a chance to see a lot of the paintings beforehand, including several works “with a variety of strong political connotations.” Members of the public and city employees across departments expressed concerns after the exhibition was erected. “All they told the general public was, ‘We’re gonna be more and more restrictive about the artists we show,’ which is insulting when you think about it,” he said. For example, she said, a city might say, “‘We can’t have instructions on how to make a bomb displayed because there’s a compelling government interest in not teaching people how to make bombs.’” It’s guaranteed that some artwork is going to make people unhappy, but governments and art venue staffers don’t always have the luxury of simply dismissing those critics, Odenkirk said.