Over 100 leading artists and intellectuals have signed a public letter calling on participants to withdraw from Creative Time’s traveling Living as Form exhibition as it is currently showing in Israel’s Technion. The Technion has extensive R&D links with the Israeli army and defense industry.
Over 100 artists and intellectuals — including Judith Butler, Lucy Lippard, Chantal Mouffe, Walid Raad, Martha Rosler, and Gayatri Spivak —have signed on to a public letter calling on participants to withdraw from Creative Time’s traveling Living as Form exhibition on the grounds that it is currently showing at Israel’s Technion, which plays a “central role in maintaining the unjust and illegal occupation of Palestine.” The letter comes in response to revelations printed by Hyperallergic.com last week that the important social practice exhibition curated by Nato Thompson had been touring in Israel for six months unbeknownst to participants, including its present appearance at the Technion, a university in Haifa with extensive research-and-development links to the Israeli military and defense technology industry.
The letter, authored by a new group called the BDS Arts Coalition, details the Technion’s military work, including the development of drones and unmanned bulldozers, and invokes the Boycott, Divestment, Boycott (BDS) movement. “Creative Time and ICI are, according to their statements, choosing to disregard the BDS call and unwilling to withdraw the exhibition. They have placed the responsibility on artists to do so,” the letter reads. ….
According to Renaud Proch of Independent Curators International, the organization responsible for touring the exhibition, seven artists and collectives have withdrawn thus far, including Ultra Red, Women on Waves, Basurama, Celine Condorelli & Gavin Wade, Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, Chto Delat, and US Social Forum (USSF).’
If you are an artist you can sign on to the public letter here:
