Holly Hughes : preaching to the perverted

Holly Hughes investigates the politics of art and democracy in Preaching to the Perverted. She discusses her recent appearance before the U.S.Supreme Court in the case NEA volume Finley (1998). Hughes, along with Karen Finley, John Fleck, and Tim Miller, were awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts that were later revoked for obscenity. The group of artists, which became known as the NEA Four, filed a case against the National Endowment for the Arts asserting First Amendment and statutory claims. Hughes reenacts scenes from the U.S. Supreme Court trial that she calls 'theatrical spectacles,' while noting the larger context of censorship in the arts in the United States. She de-centers national debates surrounding freedom, citizenship, and democracy from a lesbian feminist point of view and asserts her artistic freedom by creating performances that reflect a radical body politic. Hughes' testimony, alongside those of Finley, Fleck, and Miller, led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of the NEA Four's case against the National Endowment for the Arts. She further elaborates upon the NEA Four trial and the conservative political climate of the nation during the case in the Q&A session following the performance. Preaching to the Perverted was intended to be part of Franklin Furnace's 'History of the Future' (1999) netcast on Pseudo Programs, Incorporated's The Performance Channel (www.channelp.com); however, the corporation went bankrupt during the height of the culture wars leaving the performance footage dormant until published in full length by HIDVL in 2015.

Holly Hughes is a writer and performer, who began her thespian adventures at the WOW Cafe Theater in the Lower East Side of New York City. Her work deals with questions of identity and sexual desire, drawing recognition including two Village Obie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, funding from Creative Capital, NYSCA, and the NEA, as well as the ire of the religious right during the culture wars. Hughes's books include Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler (1996), O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance (1998), Animal Acts: Performing Species Today (2014), and Memories of the Revolution: Ten Years of the WOW Cafe (forthcoming). She is a Professor at the University of Michigan where she founded the BFA in Interarts Performance.