Do moral values supersede other areas of value, including the aesthetic, and if so, under what conditions?

In recent years, tensions between the art world and other segments of society have reached a breaking point. Richard Serra’s Titled Arc was installed and subsequently removed amid a firestorm of public resentment and art world resistance. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fought for its very existence against charges that its grants assisted in the creation and exhibition of immoral and blasphemous works of art; works cited included Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ and Karen Finley’s performance piece, We Keep Our Victims Ready, during which she smears chocolate syrup over her naked body.[1] The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati and its director, Dennis Barrie, were indicted for pandering obscenity by daring to open The Perfect Moment, a show of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs that included homoerotic images and images of nude and seminude children, to public view. At the Chicago Art Institute, visitors to a student exhibition were invited to tread across an American flag spread on the floor. These are only a few highlights of the furor generated by art works; indeed; “controversial art” has virtually become a categorical term.At the Chicago Art Institute, visitors to a student exhibition were invited to tread across an American flag spread on the floor. These are only a few highlights of the furor generated by art works; indeed; “controversial art” has virtually become a categorical term.