Producing the Mapplethorpe Moment:

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Mapplethorpe The Perfect Moment exhibit at Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art, this panel discussion will use the conflict surrounding the exhibit as a launching off point to consider artist expression in our present moment of heightened reactiveness about the (false) incompatibility of free speech and safe spaces. The panel includes:

• Zach Blas, artist, filmmaker, and writer
• Wayne Modest, head of the Research Center of Material Culture
• Amy Sadao, Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art
• Kaja Silverman, professor of Contemporary Art
• Judith Tannenbaum, former curator, associate director, and interim director of the Institute of Contemporary Art
• Sophia Wallace, interdisciplinary artist

The Mapplethorpe Moment is a partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Art, and part of the Alice Paul Center’s yearlong series: Beyond Free Speech and Safe Space: Reimagining Open Expression, Inclusion and Argument.

Photo credits: The perfect moment to stop censorship: Photo Enquirer file - Jim Callaway. If you give artists freedom of expression: AP/Wide World Photos

Tickets are not required, but RSVP is appreciated