Art is an essential part of people’s life, it has the power to express emotions and inspire people. There are many functions of the arts, and these function can be categorise into physical, personal and social. Physical function of the arts can be seen as architecture, using art as a decoration. Personal function of the arts would include therapeutic art, self-expression, leisure and entertainment needs. Lastly, the social function of the art is what makes art so important, art has the power to influence people and raise awareness about social issues, and these type of art would include art like political art and forum theatre. However, when someone tries to limit the function of the arts, many social issues are being neglected, or ignored to the benefit of self-interest. This is the case for Singapore, where censorship by the government is still relevant today. Farrington (2013) mentioned that censorship has a potential to threaten cultural space and not allowing for creativity by putting down ideas (para.2). Many issues like politics, racial tension, and gay rights are censored by the government and cannot be talked about in …show more content…
The gay pornography magazines displayed in the installation is a part of the immersive experience for the visitors and is something the artist’s wanted. Censoring and removing from the exhibition would not be the correct artistic intent. Tan (2011) justified that altering an artwork would limit the creative expression and change the message of the artist’s (para.24). In the case of “Welcome to the Hotel Munber”, it was to raise awareness about oppression and freedom, which is a social issue as oppression happens not just in a country, but a household as well. Therefore, censoring it with not allow to raise awareness about the issue, hence condemning the