SIGNIFICANCE: City of Cincinnati v. Contemporary Arts Center

Case Name: City of Cincinnati v. Contemporary Arts Center
Citation: 57 Ohio Misc.2d 15, 566 N.E.2d 214, Ohio Mun. 1990
Topics: Obscenity; Public Funding


Controversy erupted at the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati over the Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective when a local sheriff stages a raid at the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati (CAC) and seeks the indictment of museum director Dennis Barrie and CAC on obscenity charges. The case goes to trial. Both Barrie and CAC are acquitted; Barrie left CAC shortly afterwards. 

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