Lifted from
The Public Eye about the 1981 to 1991 NEA Maplethorpe battles:
At the same time, a student artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Dread Scott Tyler, became the subject of controversy for his work, "What is the Proper Way to Display An American Flag?" that displayed an American flag on the floor in a way that encouraged viewers to stand on it. The U.S. Senate voted 97-0 on March 17 to make it a federal crime to display an American flag on the floor or ground. Veterans marched on the museum; the school was rocked by bomb threats; and the Governor of Illinois, while expressing his disagreement, nevertheless signed a bill in July, 1989 that eliminated state grants to both the School and the Illinois Arts Alliance, a state advocacy group which had defended exhibit.
Fast forward to 2006 we have this image out yesterday:
"We had to walk all over the flag in order to save the flag"