Evers, Hans "Identidem"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Hans Evers
- Confronting Bodies: Cambridge, MA City Councilor William
Walsh
- Dates of action: October-December 1994
- Location: Gallery 57, Cambridge City Hall Annex, Cambridge MA
- Description of the Art Work
- An exhibit of selections from a two-year project on gender
identity and issues of masculinity by Hans Evers. Work
included self-portraits, representations of the arms and
legs of the artist's sons, some phallic imagery, and pieces
that allude to works by Donald Judd, Jeff Koons, and others.
The show was sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Council, which
regularly displays the work of local artists in its gallery
space, a large foyer surrounded by municipal offices in the City
City Hall Annex.
- Description of incident
- City Councilor Walsh, a conservative eager to portray
himself as guardian of the public morals while awaiting
sentencing on 41 counts of bank fraud, ripped two rubber
dildos out of their settings in Donald Judd-style boxes,
grabbed a cast of a penis, and ran off with all three
objects just before the show was to open on October 6. The
pieces were returned in time for the opening, but the dildos
and their settings sustained about $250 in damage.
- Results of incident
- Councilor Walsh and his supporters called for the show to
be shut down and for the Arts Council to be investigated.
Neither happened, but there was stormy public debate about
the incident. The artist filed charges against the City
Councilor for malicious destruction of property. At this
writing, City Councilor Walsh is due to be arraigned on
those charges on December 6.
Source: James D'Entremont (Cambridge, MA) Personal involvement as a
leader of the Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression (BCFE).
record no: s28
