The Arts in New York City: Form, Content, Context

Group #2: Stephanie Bermudez, Justin Davis, Jun Qing Jake Zhang

[oral presentation:  B+     Published form:   A–   –JMS]

Our selection of museum was the controversial Museum of Sex, located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. Founded recently by Daniel Gluck in 2002, the primary focus of the museum is to provide exhibitions of several elements of sexual behavior in an educational format. The MoSex (Museum of Sex) has three goals, the first being dedication “to the exploration of the history, evolution, and cultural significance of human sexuality.” The next is to preserve any related objects or art forms that would otherwise be destroyed or discarded due to their content. The third is to bring the best in current scholarship.

Daniel Gluck, a graduate of the Wharton Business School, was not at all related to the fields of museums or sexual education interest. He was actually a software entrepreneur who became very successful, and garnered the funds necessary to develop this project. Part of the reason was due to Gluck’s refusal to accept any donations or contributions from pornographic sources.

The museum itself took four years to develop and millions of dollars went into its preparation. Having opened on October 5^th, 2002, the museum has since then hosted 14 exhibitions and 5 virtual installations. Each exhibit is critically researched and carefully developed. The Museum maintains a board of advisors made up of leading experts, activists, academics, and artists who guide curators in the making. In addition, although the emphasis is on human sexuality, the content ranges from the sexual behavior of animals to new inventions and contraptions for sexual pleasure. One of the most distinguishing aspects of the museum is its age limit, only permitting those above the age of 18 for obvious reasons.

Nonetheless, a debate about the censorship of the content is highly inevitable. The art that is at the Museum is obviously controversial. In historical context, the Cincinnati Arts Center had to handle a lawsuit in the early 90’s because it had works by Robert Mapplethorpe, who was a photographer with a very unique talent in photographing naked men committing lewd acts. An attempt was made to prosecute director Dennis Barrie. After several weeks of scandal, Barrie was finally found innocent of any wrongdoing. However, to this day, one of the distinguishing factors about the Museum of Sex is the fact that its content is distinctive and notorious.

New York City’s Museum of Sex heavily contrasts from any other organization of its type. Subtle from the outside, the museum plunges one directly into the action the minute one enters. The first thing one notices is the steep admission price, necessitated by the lack of funding from several organizations due to its raunchy content. Provided that one’s credit card is validated, the visitor is given a “MoSex” bracelet and a ticket.

During the initial five minutes, the visitor is in a state of shock. The first thing one notices, even before the actual exhibits themselves, is the audience, or visitors at the museum. They range from immature individuals to truly educated and interested intellectuals. There were a wide variety of spectators, though the majority kept composure and attempted to learn on an educational level. The focus then immediately shifts to the content.

The main exhibit seen on our trip to the Museum was one entitled “The Sex Lives of Animals.” The exhibit centered on the sexual behavior of animals and included many different forms of art, some of them being photographs, sculptures, sketches, and videos.

As one adapts to the new environment, a level of comfort slowly arises. One then begins to interact, initially looking at the myriad of pictures on the white walls, then listening to the sounds of lions on an electronic playback machine, and finally seeing video footage of monkeys pleasuring themselves.

The way the exhibit was set up was an art form itself, allowing for a vast amount of movement and space. The white background emphasizes the art content and enables it to jump out. The light also reflects off many sculptures and gives them a shadow, making them more realistic.

In this specific exhibit, an artist named Rune Olsen sculpted the majority of the sculptures. They ranged from serious to humorous depictions of animals. The photos were all vivid and clear, and the text was large and easy to read. The data was laid out in a newspaper-like template, and reflected the museum’s educational purposes. The range of information available is endless– an example of a piece of statement being that certain fish can shift genders if necessary.

Another art form observed was the logo itself, with its unique texture and unusual materials. The artist, Rune Olson, used duct tape and newspapers because he claimed the simplicity of the material would match the simplicity of the content, which in this case is primitive animal sexual behavior.

It is usually after viewing the first exhibit that visitors will pay attention to the more subtle elements of the museum. The atmosphere is surprisingly calm and friendly, most likely due to the awkward and tongue-tied feeling of the event. Jasmine Pallet, one of the security guards there, humorously claimed that it was far less rowdy than her previous workplace—Yankee Stadium.

Upon arrival at the next destination, one finds that the room is far different from the previous. The pictures and text that were once abundant have vanished. Television screens and projectors have replaced the previous mode of art. This is Sex and the Moving Image, which is an exhibition discussing the sexual content that is prevalent in film, video, television, and advertising. In contrast to the other exhibition, this one is in a dark room, likely meant to match the seductive bedroom setting of the content. Most of the videos were also very dark, lacking intensity in the colors, and thus conveying a seductive mood. Like the logo of the previous exhibit, the form is related to the content.

The primary focus of this exhibit is sex involving human beings in the form of motion picture or more commonly, video. Individual TV screens and projectors display a widespread variety of content. Combined with the dark setting, this gives the feel of a movie theatre experience and is reflective the museum’s entertainment purposes. One projector is designated as the celebrity video center, where stars such as Paris Hilton present their sexual experiences in the open. The next screen plays a loop of the Girls Gone Wild videos from the past ten years. One of the more popular screens shows instructional footage on how best to pleasure a spouse.

Having just witnessed such thrilling and surprising works of art, one usually expects the shock-value of the content to lower as one adapts. However, this final exhibit is a fusion of the first and second. It was a mix of various art forms, ranging from photography to inventions. Entitled Spotlight, here one again sees a wide range of materials used. One also sees a large variety of art forms, all depicting the thoughts and creations from human sexuality, though some works are more explicit than others.

Like the first exhibit, the room is wider and brighter, with white walls and an abundance of text and pictures everywhere. On the other hand, like the second exhibit, this exhibit features only the sexuality of human beings. Initially there are sex machines and contraptions on display. On the walls are photographs of the creators and their explanations behind their creation of the machines, as well as their functions. Also included in this exhibit is a shrine dedicated to the sex lives of robots as well as random videos of strange sex fetishes such as over-eating or balloon popping, which, for some, produce orgasmic results.

The most popular presentation in the entire museum can be found nearby. The sexual education highlight reel video displays sexual education clips from the past 30 years. An older video stresses chivalry and instructs the girl not to exit the vehicle, as it is the man’s job to come around and open the door first. In another, a prom couple arrives inside the female date’s house after their event, and has very long and formal conversation. It is rather fascinating to see how the world of relationships has changed over the years, examples being condoms meriting mention and a mother discussing “being ready” with her daughter.

Finally, one could say the gift shop itself is an exhibit, as it is filled with books about sex, with titles such as, “How to Best Please Your Man/Woman,” “The World’s First Porn Star”, and “Record Biggest Boobs in the World.” People often pass by the items and immediately exit. While there a few serious customers, the majority of the visitors will purchase an item as a joke or gag for entertainment rather than practical purposes.

The Museum of Sex truly provided a very authentic, yet somewhat raw viewpoint of sexual behavior throughout history. There are few things that could have been changed for improvement. While the content was fascinating and the set ups were intelligently designed, the information at times felt overwhelming. This is primarily due to the small space of the museum, and will be difficult to change, as curators will try to pack as much as possible into an exhibit. In addition, there could have been more seating areas in the video exhibit, as the majority of the time people had to stand for several minutes to fully enjoy a clip. Besides those two minor points, the museum is a great example of the enjoyment of learning. It is an ideal place for letting loose and simply allowing oneself to enjoy a human necessity in an enlightening manner.

While entertainment is certainly inevitable, one must keep in mind that the goals are purely educational and thus a respective level of behavior is demanded. The museum usually brings out the best in its visitors, as this is a subject that nearly everyone genuinely has an interest in.

The content is certainly unique, and such a gallery presenting this type of material will be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. In our personal experiences, one exits the museum in high spirits, for one has simultaneously educated and cultured oneself while being humorously entertained and shocked.

WORKS CITED:

Blumenthal, Ralph. “Sex Museum Says It Is Here to Educate.”
New York Times 19 Sept. 2002. Print.

“Board of Advisors and Friends.” Museum of Sex. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://www.museumofsex.com/inside/advisors>.

Chancellor, Alexander. “The Opposite of Sex.” The Guardian 28 Sept. 2002. Print.

“Current Exhibitions.” Museum of Sex. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://museumofsex.com/exhibitions/current/>.

Ellenzweig, Allen. The Homoerotic Photograph: Male Images from Durieu/Delacroix to Mapplethorpe. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992 Print. 22-33.

Morrisroe, Patricia. Mapplethorpe: A Biography. New York: Da Capo, 1997. Print. 54-57

“Our Mission and History.” Museum of Sex. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. <http://museumofsex.com/inside/our-mission-and-history>.

Steinberg, David. “New York’s Thoughtful New Museum of Sex.” Spectator Magazine 19 Oct. 2002. Print.