When organizing a show, curators typically should ask a few questions. Unless other institutions do better and prove they’re equipped to provide a meaningful forum for discussions about race, they’ll risk seeing more Black artists march out rather than in.Įxhibiting “political” work is still rare, with many art institutions steering clear of “anything that would be considered controversial,” says curator Larry Ossei-Mensah.īut even when they try, many art institutions have a history of not “dealing with Black and brown artists with the same level of care. The Whitney “missed a great opportunity to be an ally to Black artists in an era that’s super sensitive,” Kissi says. The prevailing impression in the industry is still that museums bestow opportunity on Black artists simply by including them in exhibitions, when in fact, the opposite is true: to truly fulfill their responsibilities as cultural institutions and survive and stay relevant in a changing world, museums need Black artists. “Because it is an example of how art institutions have traditionally interacted with Black artists,” especially when dealing with work museums assume “rightful ownership over.” “I’m kind of glad this situation happened, as stressful as it was,” Kissi says. That attitude didn’t come as a huge shock Carter, nor to See In Black cofounder Joshua Kissi, nor the other Black artists and cultural producers I spoke to for this story, many of whom say the museum’s approach was simply business as usual. “And they just seemed like, ‘We’re the Whitney, we’ve acquired these, and you’ve got to be happy.’” “It just seemed like they were going to do it regardless,” says Micaiah Carter, the cofounder of See In Black.

The show, which artists learned of through an email from curator Farris Wahbeh sent on the same day the show was announced, struck many as sloppy and exploitative.

The Whitney, which can take years to organize a single exhibition, conceived of the since-cancelled show, titled “Collective Actions: Artist Interventions in a Time of Change,” in response to the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.Īnnounced three weeks before it was set to open, the show was to include around a dozen works by Black artists that the museum bought for $100 each at a fundraiser organized by the Black photography collective See In Black to raise money for various non-profits, including the Youth Empowerment Project and the National Black Justice Coalition. Until recently, that part has gone largely ignored. These days, many cultural producers of color say it is no longer enough for museums to acquire Black art, but to do so with the same respect and care they typically offer to white artists. The controversy that erupted last week over the Whitney Museum’s planned- and quickly cancelled-exhibition of works, many by Black artists, that the museum acquired through a fundraiser in June has shined a spotlight on a simmering issue.

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