One of the most important challenges in presenting a controversy is finding a way to map the controversy in a way that aligns structurally at a deep level with the controversy and at the same time allows for easy access to multiple levels of information that form the "stuff" of the controversy. During this prototype phase, we have chosen the controversies in part for the differences among them and the representational challenges they would therefore pose.

We have completed prototypes for two cases: the controversy over the Brooklyn Museum "Sensation" show and the controversy over the showing of Nazi-era images on Carnegie Mellon's Purnell Center for the Performing Arts. In the course of working through these art-related controversies, it became evident that the "art" component of the controversy was a catalyst, an opening into a cultural/political controversy having only a genealogical relation to the art itself. The question then becomes: How does this catalysis operate and why do certain works of art give a culture "permission" to examine larger historical and political issues? How is it that controversial art can provide an opening to debate over core values that are often otherwise unapproachable or inaccessible? Furthermore, how is the meaning of "controversy" illuminated by the Archive, and is the interpretation of controversy produced by our Archive applicable beyond the world of art?

Case 1 - Purnell Center
		The Purnell Center case explores a local controversy whereby architects, protesting the monumental style of a recently erected building, projected Nazi-era images onto a facade. These images offended local religious leaders, engendering a conflict that took into account academic freedom and responsibility, public reinterpretation and community activism.

Case 2 - "Sensations"
		The "Sensations" case study examines the manner in which local criticism can be manipulated by broader political forces for its own end. Thsi case also investigates larger issues of religious expression, tensions between secular and religious art in the public realm, and the manner in which existing media shape and constrain public debate.

Case 3 - "War Media"
		The "War Media" case examines the manner in which a polymorphous media has shaped the manner in which public discourse occurs without resolution. Mapping the video coverage of an unfolding event, it explores the manner in which controversy -- which contains contentions debated and logic -- can be overwhelmed through multiple conflicting representations.