The Site Gallery may be in hot water over a publicly-funded exhibit critics say is too hot to handle: a £50,000 Arts Council of England/BBC grant funding an exhibition, Shooting Live Artists, which invites people to photograph themselves nude and post the results online.
People could do it either on their own or in curtained-off booths at the Site Gallery itself, according to the Yorkshire Post, and some of the images were posted at SkinStrip Online.
But some of the images show men and women in what are considered sexually provocative poses - including one woman in see-through panties and one man holding his gentalia, the Post said. The British broadcast standards group Mediawatch UK demanded the BBC withdraw its support, saying the show was "clearly open to abuse which could also lead to the appearance of pornographic images."
The BBC said through a spokeswoman that the show and the Website were not porn in any form. "(We) support this project which commissions challenging works from bold, contemporary artists using new modern techniques," she told the Post. "The SkinStrip website is moderated and challenges stereotypical perceptions of the human body and encourages people to celebrate their own body in this unique and innovative way."
