In his State of the Arts column, Max Blue examines the artists calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and putting pressure on their exhibitors to join them
San Francisco boasts a proud history of political protest and radical art, so it’s no surprise that local artists have been outspoken in their calls for a cease-fire in Gaza — and for the museums where they exhibit to join them.These local tensions mirror the strained discourse throughout the art world around the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, with artist-led protests occurring at art institutions nationally and globally.
YBCA closed the exhibition to the public and issued a statement referring to the protestors’ actions as “disruptive,” and their demands to “remove Zionist board members” as “unreasonable.” The museum promised to “carefully remove and store the altered installations.” “So, I don’t know how this show is going to be curated or framed, but I’m just supposed to hand over my work and get no say?” artist Sophia Sobko said.
Further, “being told what Jewish people find offensive conflates Jewishness to Zionism, which is antisemitic,” artist Kate Laster said. “It is antisemitic to equate and co-sign our names on a complicit genocide.” Following the museum’s refusal to accept its conditions, CJAFP withdrew its artists’ work from the exhibition. CJM will leave the wall space empty where their work would have been, in order “to not try to erase what transpired, but to be transparent about it and to also say that connection sometimes is impossible,” Rabben said.
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