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# Week in Review: Activists and MoMA Clash Over Protest; National Gallery Lays Off Retail Staff
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/week-in-review-activists-and-moma-clash-over-protest-national-gallery-lays-off-retail-staff/
- Published: 2021-05-06T19:43:31.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:38:34.000Z
- Description: Also, Indigenous petroglyphs in Utah have been defaced with a white supremacist slogan, and more.
- Author: Valentina Di Liscia
- Tags: News, Week in Review, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1)

*Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.* [*Subscribe*](https://newsletters.hyperallergic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter*.

## Museums

Security staff at the Museum of Modern Art in New York clashed with activists during the latest action in the “Strike MoMA” campaign last Friday. Hyperallergic has an [on-the-ground report](https://hyperallergic.com/strike-moma-tour-ends-with-fierce-confrontation-between-museum-security-and-protesters/) of the demonstration as well as an [in-depth analysis of the museum and protesters’ conflicting narratives](https://hyperallergic.com/strike-moma-calls-glenn-lowry-gaslighter-in-chief-over-leaked-email/), with activists pushing back against MoMA's characterization of the protest as "violent," for which the museum has not provided any evidence.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC [laid off its entire retail division last month](https://hyperallergic.com/the-national-gallery-of-art-laid-off-its-entire-retail-workforce/), leaving more than two dozen employees without a job.

## Supporting Diverse Artists

A group of high school student artists from NYC are [showing their work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://hyperallergic.com/promising-teen-artists-at-the-metropolitan-museum/) as part of the museum's *Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: New York City Regional Exhibition.*

A [new emergency grant for artists with disabilities](https://hyperallergic.com/nyfa-emergency-grants-for-nyc-artists-with-disabilities/) will provide $1,000 cash grants to qualified applicants in NYC who have experienced hardship during the COVID-19 crisis.

A [new, 3,500-square-foot exhibition space for the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation](https://hyperallergic.com/art-vault-thoma-foundation-santa-fe-new-media-art/) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will be dedicated to virtual and new media art.

## In Other News

Germany has [announced plans to return the Benin Bronzes](https://hyperallergic.com/germany-announces-plan-to-return-benin-bronzes-to-nigeria/) in its museums to Nigeria starting next year. The artifacts were looted by British soldiers in the 1890s.

The Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was [forcibly hospitalized by government officials in Havana](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-forcibly-hospitalized-during-hunger-strike/) on the seventh day of his hunger and thirst strike protesting state harassment of artists.

A rock featuring ancient Indigenous petroglyphs in Utah [was defaced by an unknown vandal](https://hyperallergic.com/ancient-indigenous-petroglyphs-defaced-with-racist-message/), who etched the racist phrase “white power” and other obscenities on the famous “Birthing Rock” boulder in Moab. 

## Awards & Accolades

- The Terra Foundation has awarded $2.5 Million to 35 US art orgs for permanent collection projects, including the **Brooklyn Museum** and **El Museo del Barrio** in New York; the **Baltimore Museum of Art**; and **Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art** in Chicago.
- The National Gallery of Canada has announced the 25 artists longlisted for the 2021 Sobey Art Award. | [National Gallery of Canada](https://www.gallery.ca/whats-on/sobey-art-award/artists-2021?ref=hyperallergic.com)

## Transitions

- The Skirball Cultural Center has appointed **Sheri Bernstein** as its new Museum Director.
- **Kelly Kivland** was appointed Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts.
- **Peter Eleey** was appointed Curator-at-Large at Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.
- **Alejandro Cardenas** is now represented by Almine Rech.

## In Memoriam

- Eli Broad (1933–2021), founder of Broad Museum | [*Los Angeles Times*](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-05-03/eli-broad-business-working-life?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Selma Gürbüz (1960–2021), Turkish artist |[ ArtAsiaPacific](http://artasiapacific.com/News/ObituarySelmaGurbuz1960to2021?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Patrick O’Connell (1953-2021), founding director of Visual AIDS | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/arts/patrick-oconnell-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- James Prigoff (1927-2021), street art photographer | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/01/arts/james-prigoff-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Frank Schlesinger (1925-2021), architect | [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/b-frank-schlesinger-architect-who-helped-revive-pennsylvania-avenue-dies-at-95/2021/04/30/b1e0505a-a828-11eb-bca5-048b2759a489%5Fstory.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)