One point of contention among the participants in the "Identidem" struggle is whether the jurors knew what they were getting into.

Chu, an art historian with a doctorate in Chinese painting, said yesterday she had not known that Evers' pieces contained sexually explicit material when she voted on his work.

Chu did not see the exhibition. But she said the content of the shows does not always reflect the slides the jury sees in order to make their selections.

"We saw 15 to 20 slides from each artist, but then the gallery selected art works from the artists' studio, not from the slides that we saw," Chu added.

Chu said she would not have chosen the works if she had been aware of their explicit content.

"To be very frank, I wouldn't have chosen him if I saw slides showing sexually explicit things," she said. "I have looked at enough art works through history, and great art does not have to be sexually explicit."

But Lombardi gave a different account of the jury process.

"They saw the work of 65 to 70 artists," Lombardi said of the jurors. "[Chu] saw 700 to 1,000 slides. It's no wonder in one day that she doesn't remember. It's not the kind of contemporary art that she deals with, anyway."

"These people know what they're looking at and what to expect from an artist they select for exhibitions," she said.

Garfield said Krakow was aware of the sexual content of the artworks and approved them with full knowledge.

"[Evers'] work is about his gender and his place in society," Garfield said. "It is not meant in any way as a combative and insulting view towards people."

Cuno was in New York yesterday and could not be reached.

As for the upcoming city council hearing, neither Walsh nor Russell would comment on the changes they hope the city council will install in the jury process.

But D'Entremont and Lombardi hope the format will remain.

"The peer-panel process should be respected," D'Entremont said.