Israel-Palestine Crisis Divides the Art World
Artforum, the Venice Biennale, and The International Council of Museums are among those who have been challenged for their stances on the conflict.
Marjan Teeuwen, Destroyed House Gaza 10 (2017). Archival pigment print. 109.22 x 127 cm. Courtesy Bruce Silverstein.
Artists and arts organisations are becoming increasingly embroiled in the politics surrounding the tragedy unfolding in Israel and Gaza.
The biggest rift followed the publication of an open letter from the arts community in Artforum on 19 October. The letter was backed by 8,000 signatories, including artists Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, Peter Doig, Tomás Saraceno, Katharina Grosse, Joan Jonas, and Kara Walker.
The letter states: 'We support Palestinian liberation and call for an end to the killing and harming of all civilians, an immediate ceasefire, the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the end of the complicity of our governing bodies in grave human rights violations and war crimes.'
The signatories also said they 'reject violence against all civilians, regardless of their identity, and we call for ending the root cause of violence: oppression, and the occupation.'
The owners of Lévy Gorvy Dayan gallery responded with their own open letter, published in Artforum on 20 October, in which they 'condemn the open letter for its one-sided view'.
'We are distressed by the open letter recently posted on Artforum, which does not acknowledge the ongoing mass hostage emergency, the historical context, and the atrocities committed in Israel on October 7, 2023', they said.
Jeremy Hodkin, editor of the art industry newsletter The Canvas, also weighed in, saying, 'the letter's glaring omissions and apparent biases render it not only ignorant but also an affront to those seeking balanced discourse.'
Hodkin also confessed to facing a backlash after The Canvas called out 'the art world's silence in condemning the Hamas terror attack' on 12 October, saying individuals had unsubscribed and galleries had pulled their sponsorships.
Katharina Grosse, Peter Doig, Joan Jonas, and Tomás Saraceno were among the artists who withdrew their names from the 19 October open letter following criticisms, according to Artnet News.
The Venice Biennale is also facing scrutiny after rejecting a proposal from the Palestine Museum US, according to an article published in ARTnews on 24 October. The Museum presented an exhibition as a sanctioned 'collateral event' in the 2022 biennale.
The Museum's director, Faisal Saleh, contrasted the Biennale's treatment of Palestine with what it did for Ukraine following Russia's invasion.
'They gave Ukraine all kinds of things, but they won't even let Palestine participate as a collateral event,' he said.
The exclusion is especially conspicuous given the 2024 Biennale's theme, Foreigners Everywhere. Curator Adriano Pedrosa described the theme's backdrop as 'a world rife with multiple crises concerning the movement and existence of people across countries, nations, territories and borders'.
The Israel Pavilion is continuing as planned. Artist Ruth Patir and curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit said, 'We have been left stunned and terrified by the horrendous attacks of October 7 by Hamas that brutally shattered the lives of so many of our relatives, friends and acquaintances.'
'Our immense sense of grief is compounded by profound worry about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and extends to the tragic loss of lives there, and what's still to come,' they said.
The Venice Biennale is yet to issue a statement on the crisis in Israel and Palestine.
Yesterday, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) released a statement saying it 'expresses its deep concern about the current violence affecting Israeli and Palestinian civilians and deplores the significant humanitarian consequences that the conflict has had over the past weeks.'
That studiously balanced statement fell short of what was asked for in ICOM Israel's open letter, published on 22 October, in which they 'demand that ICOM condemn [Hamas's] acts of terror with the utmost fervour.' —[O]
