Readings: Ron Mueck Baby Banned from Calgary Buses

Okay, so being a part-time Cowtowner myself, and having enjoyed my years there, I feel I do a fair bit of defending Calgary's unique cultural advantages. But when I read a story, as I did this morning, about an image of Ron Mueck's baby sculpture being banned from Calgary Transit, well, I have to say that the city itself sometimes does dig its own arts-publicity grave. Here's an excerpt from the National Post:

Calgary Transit decided that an ad, from the Glenbow Museum, featuring a picture of “A Girl,” a sculpture by hyper-realist artist Ron Mueck, was too controversial. Transit spokeswoman Theresa Keddy didn’t say exactly what it was about a newborn baby’s body that makes it any more controversial than that of, say, an anorexic teenage model pushing designer jeans. Just that there were “community standards” to think about. "Some people would find a brand new newborn baby beautiful, and other people might find it a little bit too much to see it like that” -- by which she probably meant being all wrinkly, fluid-streaked, unsmiling and bent, its umbilical cord blue and bulging.

Pretty interesting turn of events, ones I'm not sure would happen elsewhere.

(Image of Mueck's sculpture being installed at the Glenbow from the National Post)