The fight over the Stalin banner that was hung and then subsequently removed from a Cooper Union building overlooking the East Village is continuing on and sure seems convoluted. A week after the banner was taken down, a tug-of-war over why it happened is going on between the university, the Buildings Department and the NY Civil Liberties Union with input coming from the nearby Ukrainian community as well as the artist whose installation it was a part of.
After receiving complaints about it, the Buildings Department contacted Cooper Union and told them the banner was violating city regulations. A spokesman for the Dept. told the Times, "We determined that the sign was too high, too large, lacked a permit, and blocked the building’s windows. The department does not regulate sign content."
That was not enough of an explanation for the Civil Liberties Union, who believe that the banner was being censored because of the community reaction to the massive image of the dictator who killed thousands of Ukrainians as leader of the USSR. "If building code inspectors were sent to Cooper Union to enforce regulations because of complaints about the banner’s content, then that would run afoul of the First Amendment,” said Donna Lieberman, head of the NYCLU.
As for the Cooper Union, the university said that it was willing to reapply for a permit to rehang the banner. But they planned to hold off on doing that until after this weekend's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine. A spokeswoman for the school though also sais that city officials made it clear that such a permit would not be granted.
And of course, Lene Berg, the artist behind the installation “Stalin by Picasso, or Portrait of Woman with Mustache,” has thrown in her two cents on the matter once again. Berg told City Room, "It’s deeply troubling that freedom of expression was so quickly abandoned, but my hope is that this controversy will force people to continue the discussion about the power of politics and representation. No government should be able to selectively silence speech.”
Photo Courtesy AP/Bryan ZImmerman
