THE VETERAN ART MOVEMENT JOINS IRAQI ARTISTS IN CALLING ON MOMA TO DIVEST FROM TOXIC PHILANTHROPY
Originally published in The Veteran, Spring 2020 Issue.
Theater of Operations Alternative Closing
In February, 45 veterans from the emerging Veteran Art Movement (eVAM) sent an open letter to Museum of Modern Art PS1 (MoMA PS1) calling on its board of trustees chairman, Leon Black, and board member Larry Fink, to divest from "toxic philanthropy." Black holds ties to defense contractor Constellis Holdings, formerly Blackwater, the US mercenary group responsible for the massacre of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in 2007. Fink's corporation, BlackRock, is heavily invested in the two largest US private prison companies, GEO Group and Core Civic.
The veterans' open letter was written as a gesture of solidarity with 37 artists featured in an exhibition at MoMA PS1, Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991 to 2011, who sent their own open letter to MoMA, in January. The 37 artists, many of whom are Iraqi, offered an important critique in the letter:
[...]this war has been invisible and far from the attention and concerns of most Americans. We appreciate the visibility this exhibition gives to the Iraq wars and to the work of Iraqi artists; however, we also wish to make visible MoMA's connection to funds generated from companies and corporations that directly profit from these wars.
Additionally, several of the featured Iraqi artists could not view the exhibition in person because President Trump's travel ban barred them entry into the US.
The protests surrounding Theater of Operations are part of the #MoMADivest movement, started by Art Space Sanctuary and New Sanctuary Coalition, which is calling on the museum to divest from companies that profit from war, weapons, prisons, climate change, debt ownership and oppression. Actions began in October 2019, when #MoMADivest brought attention to MoMA's and Fink's ties to toxic assets in an open letter signed by over 200 artists and activists. A week later, protestors interrupted MoMA's reopening party, calling on Fink to divest. Then, on October 30th, just days before the opening of Theater of Operations, artist Phil Collins withdrew his piece "baghdad screen tests" from the exhibition in solidarity with #MoMADivest. Later, artist Michael Rakowitz pressed pause on his video exhibit RETURN and posted a protest statement on the wall (the museum, which had denied Rakowitz's previous requests to pause his work, promptly re-started his video and removed his statement). Rakowitz's statement extended the campaign to include the call for Leon Black to divest from Constellis, a key demand of the 37 artists' and 45 veterans' open letters, which soon followed.
Theater of Operations Alternative Closing
Theater of Operations Alternative Closing
Theater of Operations Alternative Closing
On the final day of the exhibition, several eVAM artists supported Iraqi artist Ali Yass at an "alternative closing," an action co-organized with #MoMADivest. MoMA, anticipating the protest, pulled Yass' artwork from the exhibition earlier that day. Yass, who could not attend in person, addressed demonstrators via video call. "I will not talk about war," he said, "because it is from the past. I will talk about resistance because it is 'now'." Following his address, protestors he had pre-chosen ripped up a facsimile of his artwork to, in his own words, "reclaim the narrative surrounding his work and the context that allowed it to come into being." During the action, eVAM artists passed out fliers printed on Combat Paper made by Nathan Lewis, which featured a cartoon by Eric J. Garcia.
MoMA by Eric J. Garcia
While Theater of Operations has closed, the #MoMADivest movement is ongoing.
The emerging Veteran Art Movement's letter is available here.
ARTICLES FEATURING THE OPEN LETTER