Unless a video in an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery that was removed after a Catholic group complained is returned, the Warhol Foundation will withhold all funding from the institution.
Joel Wachs, president of the foundation, said its board of directors voted on Friday to demand that the video by artist David Wojnarowicz depicting ants crawling on a crucifix be restored. The board sent a letter and e-mail to Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, on Monday.
The foundation said it has given $375,000 over the past three years to various Smithsonian institutions, including $100,000 to help fund Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, from which the video was removed.
Officials at the Smithsonian could not be reached for comment.
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