The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey pulled the permit on an art exhibit at Kennedy Airport after an opening-night party left a landmark terminal strewn with cigarette butts, broken glass and empty liquor bottles.

The exhibit in the 42-year-old former TWA terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, featured the work of 20 contemporary artists, including Kendell Geers, Jenny Holzer and Tom Sachs.

Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said guests at Friday’s opening-night party had been illegally smoking inside the terminal, and that liquor had been sold without a permit. He said a door had been broken, walls were covered with graffiti and vomit was found on the floor.

[ link: Newsday.com - AP Regional ]

Kidding aside… this doesn’t help the reputation of contemporary arts in NYC, especially since it’s being exploited by the tabloids.

The organizers really should be ashamed of the themselves but the Port Authority sounds like they simply freaked. Obviously the exhibition could have gone on. A really unfortunate incident. permanent link to this post