UCLA art controversy: censorship or "curatorial process"?

The exhibition may be over, but Los Angeles artist Maya Lujan is still seething.

Lujan, 34, participated in UCLA's 2008 Wight Biennial exhibition, titled "Group Effort: Collaboration as Process and Form," which opened Sept. 25 and closed Oct. 9 at the New Wight Gallery at UCLA's Broad Art Center.

Lujan's large scale artwork "White Magic and Xanadu," appeared in the show -- but not the way the artist had in mind.

The symbol on the wall (at far right) was installed Sept. 23 along with the sculptural pieces, but was removed before the show opened -- according to the artist, without her permission.

"It's just sort of unheard of for them to handle it without the artist's permission," she said.

Lujan proposed the work with another artist, Kristin Botshekan, but Botsekan dropped out before the exhibition.

Although the student curators did not provide Culture Monster with their reasons for taking down the symbol, which Lujan calls a "mandala," Russell Ferguson, chairman of the UCLA art department, confirmed that the decision probably had something to do with the fact that the form resembles a swastika.

Webster's defines a mandala as a "Hindu or Buddhist symbol of the universe," usually depicted as a circle enclosing a square.  Lujan says the word can encompass any form with an inner shape, in this case the small square of bare wall enclosed by four arms. The form, she says,  "carries the association of aiding the viewer into a trancelike state."  She says that among the differences between her form and a Nazi swastika is that hers is oriented at a different angle.

In a Sept. 24 e-mail to Lujan, Alex Segade, one of the show's curators, wrote that all four curators "love your installation" but were "wondering if the wall mandala is absolutely necessary and if you would be open to taking it down? We've received a lot of questions about it and I am afraid it is being misread by the public."

Lujan asked for "a more detailed explanation" and added: "If you can give me a very strong and honest reason to remove it, I might consider it." Instead, Lujan says the curators removed the form, constructed of pieces of velvet, without waiting for her OK.

Ferguson left the decision up to the curators and said their choice should not to invoke the  "serious charge" of censorship. "Obviously the artist is upset about it; on the other hand, it seems to me within the norms of the curatorial process," he said earlier this week. 

Added Ferguson, "Nobody is accusing her of putting up some neo-Nazi symbol; on the other hand, it was not a kind of low-key thing." He said curators were misled by the fact that in her proposal Lujan described this part of the work as a "velvet painting" and that the proposal materials did not make clear what the finished installation would look like or "it would have been dealt with before."

The curators -- Segade, Matthias Merkel Hess, Jennifer Gradecki and Wu Ingrid Tsang -- said via e-mail Thursday: "Regarding the project Maya Lujan and Kristin Botshekan proposed, we decided not to include the wall piece because it was not in the spirit of the show we wanted to present...." No reference was made to swastikas.

Lujan believes that a study she provided along with her written proposal did indeed suggest the intended shape of the form. Said Lujan: "What I would ideally like is another opportunity to show in the gallery, and I would like another opportunity to show my work intact and unedited. I just felt the whole time it was up it was not what I intended."

-- Diane Haithman

Photo caption: Maya Lujan's "White Magic and Xanadu" as it would have looked before the "mandala" --an image that some perceived as being a little too close to a Nazi swastika -- was removed. The photo, by Ben Duggan, was shot Oct. 3, while the show was still open: "I put it [the mandala] back up for the shoot. I kind of had to sneak in there and do it. We got the shots and left," Lujan said in an e-mail.

Comments

[Lou Hailu]

The U.S. flag has 5o stars.
do the stars represent Wiccanism (Wiccan religion)?

[myillusion]

I think that this show recognizes the fact that we are in the midst of a war and begs the direction of the country to focus on more productive ways of investing funds, that would be, space advancement and research. If we think about the teachings of Stephen Hawking, he insists that the fundamental survival of our planet /human is space travel. The swastika-mandala is a good luck charm for aviators.

[Dora Glasberg]

Both the Scandinavians and American Indians used the swastika long before the Nazi's appropriated it as THEIR symbol.
Besides this 'cross' has an extra piece at the ends that alters it.

[hrob27]

To those of us who know something about the history of symbols, we know that first of all, this is NOT a swastika; second, we also know that the symbol as it stands today was basically stolen and rearranged by Hitler to change it from a symbol of peace to the now commonly known symbol of war. I do believe that although they meant well, the curators jumped the gun and should have allowed the art piece to stand. However, those bloggers here who are criticizing UCLA should know that the university has one of the finest art programs in the country, and the school should not be disparaged just because of one human error.

[Hugo]

First, it does not look like a swastika. Second of all, those of you who are very sensitive to that image, I understand, but remember Hitler got the symbol from a Native American symbol (which meant prosperity), he simply flipped it counter-clockwise. Third, if you art people can't be thick-skinned or open minded enough, what hope do the rest of us have?

And fourth, the curators messed up. Either you censored Lujan's work, or you failed in following up with the artist with due diligence. Had you done your jobs correctly, you would have discovered Lujan's so-called objectionable image, and you could have just uninvited her from the show. That they took the middle road only shows the mediocrity of the curators; local museums and galleries would do well to remember these figures of mediocrity so as not to hire them.

[Mat]

Why so shocked that UCLA would stoop to censorship? Art school is big business, big money - art that is problematic is either disappeared thru theory or thru actual censorship. DUH !

[biz. c.]

While it's believable that Lujan included it in her artwork for shock value or controversy as many people, artist or non-artist do, the swastika-like design on the wall does not necessarily mean that Lujan is a Nazi. The Nazis did not invent the swastika design; it's been around representing the universe since ancient times. Understandably, the swastika was made popular by the Nazis and many people attending the exhibit may have responded negatively if the swastika/mandala was left on the wall. The Nazis and the swastika are like Disney and fairy tales; just another case of something alright being made not-so-cool.

For UCLA to remove the swastika/mandala art piece is certainly a social injustice to the artist Lujan. As an individual, Lujan has more rights than UCLA and for UCLA to assert its "rights" over Lujan is a fine example of totalitarianistic behavior. However it is easy to see that UCLA is incredibly worried about its image and wishes to avoid as much conflict with the public as possible, and in turn creates more bad image and conflict.