Anyone who missed David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire in My Belly” before it was removed from the National Portrait Gallery exhibit Hide/Seek on November 30 will soon be able to see it right outside the museum. Mike Blasenstein and Michael Dax Iacovone, who were detained on December 6 for playing the video on an iPad in the NPG lobby, have followed through on their promise to host a temporary gallery for censored work.

When we spoke to Iacovone last month, the pair were still working out what kind of permits and set-up they would need, but they’ve now obtained everything they need to park a trailer outside the Gallery’s F Street NW entrance. The “Museum of Censored Art” will be open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (mirroring NPG’s hours), until Hide/Seek closes on February 13.

The City Paper quotes Iacovone as saying, “we haven’t said anything to NPG, but I suspect they’re going to find out real soon.” Aside from Secretary of the Smithsonian, G. Wayne Clough — who was behind the decision to bow to criticism from a conservative website and pull Wojnarowicz’s video — one wonders if some folks at the NPG might secretly welcome the video’s return. Inside the main exhibit, curators have installed a comment book below a display asking visitors thoughts about the exhibition, including:

What’s your feeling about the controversy over the video “A Fire in my Belly”? How should a federally supported museum respond when public controversies erupt about images or themes?

While skirting the issue a bit — visitors not in the loop might assume it’s a video they just missed in the somewhat large exhibit — it’s nice to see the NPG doing the least of what they should have done before the video’s removal: open a conversation.