Theory & Event

Butler, Judith, 1956-
The Value of Being Disturbed
Theory & Event - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2000

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Judith Butler | The Value of Being Disturbed | Theory & Event 4:1 The Value of Being Disturbed 4:1 | © 2000 Judith Butler On October 9th of this past year, I listened to a debate staged on the Jim Lehrer Show between the lawyers for the Brooklyn Museum of Art and those representing Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York on the recent controversy over the provocative artwork currently on exhibit at the museum. As you no doubt know, an artist named Chris Ofili made a work of art portraying the Virgin Mary or, at least, called the Virgin Mary, which is spattered with elephant dung and small vaginal icons. The controversy became most heated when New York Mayor Giuliani decided to withhold the seven million dollars that the city regularly provides the Brooklyn Museum to cover its basic overhead on the grounds that the museum had violated the terms of the lease it had made with the city.[1] The lease stipulates that the Museum will set up exhibitions that will be appropriate for school children or, at least, it stipulates that that is one of the services, although not the exclusive one, that the museum shall provide. This more narrow argument about the lease stipulation, however, was preceded by a broader call of outrage by the Mayor. He claimed first that the exhibition was offensive and that, in particular, it offended people with certain religious beliefs. The Mayor argued that the sensibilities of religious Christians, mainly Catholics it seems, are offended...