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# Week in Review: Artists Denounce MoMA Trustees' Ties to Israeli Apartheid; Brooklyn Museum Workers Unionize
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/week-in-review-artists-denounce-moma-trustees-ties-to-israeli-apartheid-brooklyn-museum-workers-unionize/
- Published: 2021-05-27T20:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:38:33.000Z
- Description: Also, activists crashed the British Museum’s reopening weekend to protest Big Oil sponsorship, and more.
- Author: Jasmine Weber
- Tags: News, Week in Review, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1)

W*eek 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*.

## Arts Support for Palestine

In an open letter, 250-plus artists, including Fred Moten and Angela Davis, charged MoMA trustees, including Steven Tananbaum, Leon Black, and Paula Crown, with being “[directly involved with support for Israel’s apartheid rule](https://hyperallergic.com/angela-davis-fred-moten-and-250-artists-sign-letter-condemning-moma-ties-to-violence-against-palestinians/).”

Hundreds of activists [blockaded the entrance of MoMA](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-blockade-entrance-moma-ties-to-violence-against-palestinians/) with a teach-in, condemning the ties of board members to violence against Palestinians.

Over 1,000 artists and scholars, including Judith Butler and Angela Davis, have [signed a statement in solidarity with the Palestinian city of Lydda](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-and-scholars-sound-alarm-on-far-right-israeli-extremists-in-lydda/) in the wake of mounting racist violence.

## Censorship and Protest

A Belarusian art exhibition untangling the country’s response to the coronavirus was closed by authorities this March, leading to the [arrest of five of its organizers](https://hyperallergic.com/belarusian-police-raid-homes-of-curators-detaining-five/).

Toga-clad activists from BP or Not BP? [crashed the British Museum’s reopening weekend](https://hyperallergic.com/toga-clad-activists-crashed-british-museum-reopening-to-protest-oil-sponsorship/) to protest British Petroleum’s backing of the forthcoming exhibition *Nero: the man behind the myth*.

Michael Zelehoski’s [plywood obelisk sculpture “Miguelito”](https://hyperallergic.com/plywood-obelisks-reflect-on-a-year-of-racial-justice-protests/) reflects on a year of racial justice protests and is crafted with materials used to board up businesses during last summer’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

## In Other News

Brooklyn Museum [workers are unionizing](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-workers-move-to-unionize/).

San Francisco’s program to pay artists $1,000 per month has been [extended and expanded](https://hyperallergic.com/san-francisco-program-to-pay-artists-has-been-extended/) thanks to a $3.46 million donation by tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey.

Painter Julie Mehretu is [donating the proceeds from a sale of her work](https://hyperallergic.com/julie-mehretu-painting-could-raise-4m-for-mass-incarceration-reform/) “Dissident Score” (2019-2021), which is expected to fetch between $3 and $4 million, to an incarceration reform nonprofit.

You can [sponsor a statue at Notre Dame](https://hyperallergic.com/help-rebuild-notre-dame-by-sponsoring-a-statue/) to help the historic cathedral rebuild.

The public can now add their name to a letter addressed to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch urging him to [enact a plan that ensures the National Museum of the American Latino gets a proper place on the National Mall](https://hyperallergic.com/sign-your-name-to-ensure-new-latino-culture-museum-is-built-on-the-national-mall/).

## Awards & Accolades

- **Juana Williams** has been named Detroit Art Mile's inaugural Curatorial Fellow.
- **Fanglu Lin** was awarded the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize.
- The **Graham Foundation** has announced the [recipients](http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees?mode=2021&ref=hyperallergic.com) of its 2021 grants to individuals.

## Transitions

- **Laurence des Cars** has been named Director-President of the Louvre Museum.
- Ryan Lee Gallery now represents the **Estate of Camille Billops**.
- **Allison Glenn** was appointed Senior Curator and Director of Public Art at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
- David Zwirner Gallery now represents artist **Merrill Wagner** and the **Estate of Robert Ryman**.

## In Memoriam

- Eric Carle (1929-2021), *The Very Hungry Caterpillar* author and illustrator | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/books/eric-carle-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Mary Beth Edelson (1933-2021), artist and feminist activist | [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mary-beth-edelson-dead/2021/05/24/926bcf86-bc98-11eb-83e3-0ca705a96ba4%5Fstory.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Anna Halprin (1920–2021), experimental choreographer | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/arts/dance/anna-halprin-dies-at-100-choreographer-committed-to-experimenting.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Alain Kirili (1946–2021), sculptor | [Le Journal des Arts](https://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/creation/disparition-du-sculpteur-alain-kirili-1946-2021-154534?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Mark Lancaster (1938-2021), artist and stage designer | [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/may/26/mark-lancaster-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Paulo Mendes da Rocha (1928–2021), architect | [*Architect Magazine*](https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/paulo-mendes-da-rocha-dies-at-92%5Fo?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Terence Riley (1954-2021), architect and curator | [*Architect Magazine*](https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/architect-and-curator-terence-riley-dies-at-66%5Fo?ref=hyperallergic.com)