Protest Targets Whitney Museum Board Ties After Canceled Performance
A group of protesters staged a demonstration in the lobby of the Whitney Museum of American Art last Friday evening, May 23, targeting board members “tied to genocide, militarism, and apartheid” and accusing the museum of censorship after it canceled a performance about Palestinian mourning at the Independent Study Program (ISP) earlier this month. The protest lasted about one hour, with approximately 50 activists in participation, including several alumni of the ISP, a program funded by the Whitney.
The action came two weeks after the museum canceled the May 14 staging of “No Aesthetic Outside My Freedom: Mourning, Militancy, and Performance,” a performance piece by artists Noel Maghathe, Fadl Fakhouri, and Fargo Tbakhi that had been organized by the ISP’s current curatorial cohort. Hyperallergic reported that Museum Director Scott Rothkopf took issue with Tbakhi’s introduction to the performance from an earlier staging last year, in which Tbakhi asks audience members who supported Israel to leave.
Catalyzed by the museum’s decision, the protesters took over the lobby during the weekly Free Fridays program, deploying painted banners and signs accusing the museum of “artwashing genocide,” “sponsoring war crimes,” and “policing artists.” The group handed out 600 mock museum pamphlets identifying specific board members and their ties to Zionist, militarized, and surveillance-oriented entities.
The tri-folds named Nancy Carrington Crown, whose family members are major shareholders of General Dynamics, the arms and information systems company that has supplied the Israeli military with bombs and ammunition; Estée Lauder heir Leonard Lauder, whose brother Ronald is the president of the World Jewish Congress and a chairman emeritus of the Jewish National Fund; and billionaire Laurie Tisch, whose cousin Jessica Tisch became the New York City Police Commissioner last November.
The protesters remained in the lobby from 8pm to 9pm before exiting without force. They chanted outside for approximately 20 minutes before dissipating. No arrests were made.
This isn’t the first time the Whitney’s board has been targeted in pro-Palestine protests. A little over a year ago, activists staged a sound- and projection-based intervention during the Whitney Biennial to call out Carrington Crown and museum sponsor Hyundai Motors for their ties to the Israeli military. In November 2023, activists doused the museum’s stairs with fake blood during a march for Gaza in Manhattan.
The museum is no stranger to criticism and actions against its board members, either. Ex-Vice Chairman Warren Kanders was ousted from the Whitney in 2019 after persistent protests and artist withdrawals when it was revealed that his company, Safariland, produced and sold tear gas that was used at the US-Mexico border as well as Puerto Rico.
The Whitney did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment.
