Black Artists Accuse Madison Museum of ‘Institutional Racist Violence’ – ARTnews.com

In the letter, which was published on August 19, they accused the museum of “shameful mistreatment of the Black artists, contractors, and staffers throughout the exhibition.”

The museum denied the allegations, calling them “inappropriate and unfounded” in a statement issued after the letter was published.

The exhibition, organized by independent curator Fatima Laster, is titled “Ain’t I A Woman?,” a reference to a book by bell hooks. The triennial draws on Black feminist writings, including works by Sojourner Truth and hooks. MMoCA has been running the triennial for more than four decades, but this is the first edition with a stated focus on the work of Black women artists in Wisconsin.

The accusations center around the vandalism of an installation produced by the Madison-based artist Lilada Gee. In June, the work, while installed in an unfinished condition at the museum, was defaced the work with paint and glitter that were available in the exhibition gallery. The museum claimed that the work was misinterpreted as an interactive piece by a family with children visiting the museum.

In July, MMoCA’s director, Christina Brungardt, moved to deinstall Gee’s work and close the gallery space in which it was located. That gallery had also housed a number of other works by artists in the triennial.

The triennial participants who withdrew from the show claim that Gee and other artists did not receive support from the museum. They also allege that the museum did not adequately promote the exhibition across its social media channels, and that it did not organize any programming around the triennial.

“The attack, institutional response from both MMoCA and the Overture, and the persistent security concerns that followed are clear examples of institutional racist violence,” the letter says.

In a section titled “Museum Failures,” the artists also claim that they should have been paid more. The $250 individual honorarium payment paid to participating triennial artists is below the percentage of the museum’s $3 million operating budget suggested by the artist labor group W.A.G.E.’s guidelines for artist compensation. (Industry groups like the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums do not offer standards for payments to artists.)

This was not the first call for the museum’s leadership to address issues related to race and equity in the lead-up to the triennial. In the months prior to the incidents involving Gee and her work, a group of 20 artists, curators, and activists sent a letter to the museum in support of Laster’s appointment. That letter was addressed to Brungardt and the museum’s board of trustees, and revolved around allegations of “internal dissent” involving Laster’s participation as curator.

The committee also refuted accusations that the museum mishandled security measures for the exhibition, saying, “The 16-minute period during which hired gallery attendants were not in one part of the exhibit space does not equate to disrespect for the Black artists or guest curator of the exhibit, nor does it point to institutional racism.”