Introduction: Self-Policing and Self-Censorship

Art has the capacity to transform and to arouse intense emotions. It can be loved but also hated; it can challenge social attitudes but also be complicit with the structures of power. It can open up new ways of thinking but also offend deeply held beliefs. Indeed, art can be dangerous. How do cultural institutions confront these contradictions? As mediators between art and the public, institutions are also inevitably filters: agents of censorship or self-censorship.