Protests against the distribution of power in the US artworld continue to gain pace, with Zackary Drucker + A.L. Steiner the latest to withdraw their work from an exhibition. The duo have requested that their work be removed from a group exhibition at The Shed, the controversial new arts complex which is part of the vast Hudson Yards real estate development in Manhattan. The move comes after Stephen Ross, who is the majority owner of the real estate company behind Hudson Yards, hosted a fundraiser for President Donald Trump. As fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case continued, meanwhile, an interview in Mother Jones with the convicted paedophile’s longtime friend, art dealer Stuart Pivar, raised uncomfortable questions for the privately funded New York Academy of Art.
As street demonstrations rumble on in Hong Kong, the National Gallery of Victoria stands accused of ‘self-censorship’ by refusing to host a panel discussion about the situation. Noting that the museum’s current exhibition includes eight of the Qin emperor’s Terracotta Warriors on loan from China, Denise Ho, a Hong Kong-based singer and activist, and the political cartoonist Badiucao were told that the venue was available on the requested date but that ‘security concerns’ were cited when the proposal was rejected. The NGV responded to criticism with a statement that it had been ‘unable to accommodate the security and logistics required to book this event with short notice’.
The artist Nan Goldin was arrested outside the headquarters of New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo. She was detained as part of a protest by P.A.I.N., the activist group she founded to raise awareness of the opioid crisis in the United States, in support of the creation of overdose protection centres in which drugs can be administered to addicts in supervised and safe conditions.
