The sculptures of Jake and Dinos Chapman (aka the Chapman Brothers) are often regarded as controversial and have real shock value (mannequins of children with penis noses, etc). Rom Mueck's hyper-realistic sculptures have caused a few rumbles too. Have you thought about film as art? Lilya 4-ever, written and directed by Lukas Moodysson (2002) is currently on release and includes children sniffing glue, a gang rape, and child suicide in a bleak story of child prostitution. Most of its shock value comes from it being so realistic (story and acting), and it might be fruitful to diffentiate between the shock of the 'real' and other forms of 'shocking art'. Other 'art shockers' that come to mind are the introduction of oil paint vs traditional tempera in the 15th century (a shock of technique), people running for their lives from early cinemas because they thought the train on screen was heading straight for them, Marcus Harvey's giant portrait of Myra Hindley (a British child-murderer from the 60's) made entirely of children's handprints (the picture was vandalised), Rudolph Giuliani closing the 'Sensation' exhibition in New York because it featured Chris Ofili's portrait of the Virgin Mary made using elephant dung and surrounded with hard-core pornography, Andres Serrano's image 'Piss Christ' which is a crucifix photographed suspended in piss (the University of South Carolina's website calls it an "esoteric medium" and leaves it at that), Robert Mapplethorpe's self-portrait with an inserted bullwhip (again, enough to get his exhibitions closed down and banned), and the whole phenomenon of 'Outsider Art' (untrained artists, often people with psychiatric problems - but this only tends to shock the art establishment). Of course, this all depends on how shockable your professor is, but my feeling is that if he isn't shocked by the Chapman brothers, you've no chance anyway. Few people can comfortably cope with a life-size mannequin of a six-year-old girl with an erection where her face should be. Good luck with your assignment, and if you're interested in background on any of the above, IM me and I'll give you what I can.