Decolonize This Place Explained

Place:New York, NY
Causes:Indigenous struggle, Black liberation, Free Palestine, global wage workers, de-gentrification, dismantling patriarchy

Decolonize This Place is an art collective based in New York City that organizes around Indigenous rights, black liberation, Palestinian nationalism, de-gentrification, and economic inequality.[1] [2] Their actions often take place at museums and cultural institutions and focus on claimed colonialist tendencies within the art world.[3]

History

Decolonize This Place emerged from an action at the Brooklyn Museum in May 2016, under the auspices of Decolonial Cultural Front which targeted two museum exhibitions that some have argued normalized the displacement of Palestinians and Brooklynites alike.[4] [5] An Autumn 2016 residency at Artists Space allowed for the organization to articulate its framework linking various global issues, for example, activism connecting Indigenous rights and people of color generally with the Palestinian Israeli conflict.[6] The closing event of this residency, on December 17, 2016, was marred by an assault on four activists leaving the event by self-proclaimed supporters of Donald Trump.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Leadership

Decolonize This Place is facilitated by the MTL+ Collective.[13] "Facilitation" has been repeatedly used by the MTL+ Collective to describe their role in this work.[14] [15] [16] [17]

MTL, the group at the core of MTL+, consists of Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon, who have collaborated as a collective on research, organizing, and action in art practice. Dhillon is a mathematician and artist who attended the Whitney Independent Study Program and the School of the International Center of Photography.[18] Husain is a lawyer who studied photography at the International Center of Photography and works as an artist, community activist, and adjunct instructor at New York University.[19] [20] [21]

Activism

American Museum of Natural History

Since 2016, Decolonize This Place has organized an Indigenous Peoples Day/Anti-Columbus Day tour of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.[22] [23] Initial demonstrations on October 10, 2016 brought forward a series of demands under the slogan of "Rename, Remove, Respect," calling for a renaming of Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples' Day, removal of the Theodore Roosevelt statue at the museum's entrance, and renovation of several museum exhibitions with the consultation of curators who are representatives of the communities depicted in the exhibitions.[24] [25] Demands at the 2018 event repeated earlier requests, including removal of the statue of Theodore Roosevelt and the creation of a Decolonization Commission to assess the impact of stereotypes depicted in artistic works.[26]

In 2019, following the news that the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce had rented out space in the museum for a gala to honor Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, Decolonize This Place issued a statement on Instagram denouncing this use of museum space and promising protests if the event was not canceled.[27]

Brooklyn Museum

Decolonize This Place has organized events on Columbus Day at the Brooklyn Museum. Actions in 2018 around the Brooklyn Museum, both in April and October, have been organized around decolonization in response to the recent hiring of Kristen Windmuller-Luna as consulting curator for African art.[28] An open letter was sent to the Brooklyn Museum from Decolonize This Place[29] criticizing this hiring decision and highlighting it as proof of the disconnect between the museum and its surrounding community.

Whitney Museum

In December 2018, Decolonize This Place organized an action at the Whitney Museum to protest Board vice-chairman Warren Kanders' ownership of Safariland,[30] [31] [32] the manufacturer of tear gas used against members of one of the late 2018 migrant caravans along the US-Mexico border.[33]

In response to plans for the 2019 Biennial, Decolonize This Place launched nine weeks of protests beginning March 22, 2019, calling for the removal of Kanders from the museum's Board.[34] After eight artists left the program in solidarity with the protests, Kanders resigned his position on July 25.[35]

Subway protests

In the fall of 2019, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a crackdown on fare evasion in the subway, adding 500 NYPD officers to enforce the measure.[36] Decolonize This Place organized a protest in response, focused on the presence of police in the subway and calling for free transit in the face of declining service.[37] Around one thousand protesters marched through the streets and later staged a mass fare evasion, jumping turnstiles and holding open emergency gates in several stations in Downtown Brooklyn.[38] [39]

Criticism

In 2016, Husain gave a speech on Palestinian liberation at an Al-Quds Day celebration in Times Square in which he advocated fighting for "justice in all the ways possible – and yes, Jihadis – Jihadis in all the ways possible[40] ... don’t let anyone tell you to renounce your brother or sister because they are fighting in an unacceptable way."[41] Several alt-right news sources published articles calling the group violent and attempted to get one member fired from his position at NYU.[42] [43]

Nigerian-American art historian and curator Okwui Enwezor criticized the movement's objection to the hiring of curator Kristen Windmuller-Luna, a former student of Enwezor, as "arbitrary at best, and chilling at worst."[44]

In May 2021, while preparing an anti-Israel demonstration in Manhattan, representatives of Decolonize This Place tweeted "And wondering what to do in solidarity in the meantime? Find targets nearby, Find where these zionist fools live and where there offices are, and act!" Although deleted, the tweet was interpreted by several Zionist commentators as an attempt to incite violence against Jews.[45] [46]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Decolonize This Place. www.decolonizethisplace.org. en. October 14, 2018.
  2. Web site: 'Brooklyn Is Not for Sale': Decolonize This Place Leads Protest at Brooklyn Museum. Greenberger. Alex. April 30, 2018. ARTnews. en-US. October 14, 2018.
  3. Sholette, Gregory. “What do Artists Want?, Re-reading Carol Duncan’s 1983 essay Who Rules the Art World” in 2017” in Who Runs the Artworld: Money, Power & Ethics, Brad Buckley & John Conomos eds., Libri Publishing, 2018. pp 57-73.
  4. Decolonize This Place. [program brochure] Accessed April 25, 2019 from http://www.decolonizethisplace.org/brochures/DTP_Brochure_11X17_Kyledidthis_HIRES.pdf
  5. News: Gentrification and Occupation at the Brooklyn Museum. Chen. Michelle. The Nation. May 11, 2016. April 25, 2019. en-US. 0027-8378. April 25, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190425201357/https://www.thenation.com/article/occupying-museums/. dead.
  6. Homersham, Lizzie. "Letter from New York: Art Manoeuvres." Art Monthly; London. Iss. 401, (Nov 2016): 36.
  7. Holmes, Caren, "Laughing Against White Supremacy: Marginalized Performance of Resistance Comedy" (2017). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 7770. Page 70.
  8. Web site: Learning from Decolonize This Place. January 9, 2017. Hyperallergic. en-US. April 24, 2019.
  9. Web site: LGBTQ Activists Attacked by Trump Supporters While Leaving NYC Art Space. December 19, 2016. Hyperallergic. en-US. April 24, 2019.
  10. Web site: Trump supporters 'attack LGBT activists at art space'. December 22, 2016. Dazed. en. April 24, 2019.
  11. Web site: Group Of LGBT Activists Attacked By Trump Supporters In Downtown New York NewNowNext. Avery December 20, 2016. Dan. www.newnownext.com. April 24, 2019.
  12. Web site: Tribeca Citizen It Happened Here Again. Tribeca Citizen. en-US. April 24, 2019.
  13. Web site: Decolonize This Place. www.decolonizethisplace.org. en. April 25, 2019.
  14. Web site: Decolonizing Institutions. November 25, 2018. Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. en-US. April 25, 2019.
  15. Web site: 'Museums Are Not Inherently Any Way': MTL Collective On Decolonize This Place and Reimagining Museums. Cills. Hazel. Jezebel. March 2019 . en-US. April 25, 2019.
  16. Web site: Practicing Decolonization - Programs – Slought. slought.org. en. April 25, 2019.
  17. Web site: 'Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor': Artists Space Steps Out of Analysis and Into Action. Brown. Angela. November 15, 2016. ARTnews. en-US. April 25, 2019.
  18. Web site: Nitasha Dhillon ZKM. zkm.de. en. April 25, 2019.
  19. Web site: Interview: Nitasha Dhillon and Amin Husain - MTL Collective. Arts Cabinet. en-US. April 25, 2019. July 17, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190717033345/https://www.artscabinet.org/editorial/interview-nitasha-dhillon-and-amin-husain-mtl-collective. dead.
  20. Web site: Amin Husain. as.nyu.edu. April 25, 2019.
  21. Penny . Daniel . The Artist-Activists Decolonizing the Whitney Museum . Paris Review . March 22, 2019 . April 23, 2019.
  22. Web site: Decolonize This Place...Now: Museums are Increasingly Monitored for their Curatorial Representation - Non-Profit News Nonprofit Quarterly. nonprofitquarterly.org. October 5, 2018. en-US. October 14, 2018.
  23. News: Photos: Hundreds Of Protesters Condemn Colonialism, Patriarchy, And White Supremacy At AMNH. Gothamist. October 14, 2018. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20181013061704/http://gothamist.com/2018/10/10/american_museum_of_natural_history_1.php#photo-1. October 13, 2018. dead.
  24. Book: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv512v68.12 . j.ctv512v68.12 . Calibrating relevance at the Pitt Rivers Museum . Van Broekhoven . Laura N. K. . Dethroning historical reputations: Universities, museums and the commemoration of benefactors . 2018 . 65–80 . Institute of Historical Research . 9781909646827 .
  25. Emily Martin & Susan Harding (2017) Anthropology Now and Then in the American Museum of Natural History: An Alternative Museum, Anthropology Now, 9:2, 1-13, DOI: 10.1080/19428200.2017.1340758
  26. News: Around 1,000 People Attend Anti-Columbus Day Tour at American Museum of Natural History. October 8, 2018. Hyperallergic. October 14, 2018. en-US.
  27. Web site: Climate-Change-Denying Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Will Be Feted as 'Person of the Year' at a Gala at New York's Natural History Museum. April 12, 2019. artnet News. en-US. April 15, 2019.
  28. News: 'Decolonize This Place' Protesters Disrupt Brooklyn Museum, Condemn 'Imperial Plunder'. Gothamist. October 14, 2018. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20180817020445/http://gothamist.com/2018/04/30/brooklyn_museum_protest.php#photo-1. August 17, 2018. dead.
  29. Web site: Decolonize This Place. www.decolonizethisplace.org. en. October 14, 2018. October 15, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181015042114/http://www.decolonizethisplace.org/post/open-letter-to-the-brooklyn-museum-your-curatorial-crisis-is-an-opportunity-to-decolonize. dead.
  30. Web site: Decolonize This Place Plans Action at the Whitney Opposing Tear Gas Manufacturer on Museum Board. December 7, 2018. Hyperallergic. en-US. December 10, 2018.
  31. Web site: 'No Space for Profiteer of State Violence': Decolonize This Place Protests Whitney Vice Chair Warren B. Kanders. Greenberger. Alex. December 9, 2018. ARTnews. en-US. December 10, 2018.
  32. Web site: Activists Protest at Whitney Museum, Demanding Vice Chairman and Owner of Tear Gas Manufacturer "Must Go". December 10, 2018. Hyperallergic. en-US. December 10, 2018.
  33. Web site: Meet The Safariland Multimillionaire Getting Rich Off Tear Gas and More In The Defense Industry. Cam. Deniz. Forbes. en. December 10, 2018.
  34. Web site: Decolonize This Place Launches "Nine Weeks of Art and Action" with Protest at Whitney Museum. March 23, 2019. Hyperallergic. en-US. April 3, 2019.
  35. News: Pogrebin . Robin . Harris . Elizabeth . July 25, 2019 . Warren Kanders Quits Whitney Board After Tear Gas Protests . The New York Times . New York, NY . January 31, 2020.
  36. Web site: Lewis . Danny . Cuomo To Flood The Subways With 500 Cops To Stop Farebeaters . Gothamist . November 12, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191112220233/https://gothamist.com/news/cuomo-to-flood-the-subways-with-500-cops-to-stop-farebeaters . November 12, 2019 . dead .
  37. Web site: Offenhartz . Jake . Photos, Videos: NYers Jump Turnstiles En Masse To Protest Police Brutality On The Subway . Gothamist . November 12, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191112220233/https://gothamist.com/news/decolonizefareevasionnprotest . November 12, 2019 . dead .
  38. Web site: Quinn . Anna . Hundreds Take Over BK Streets Protesting NYPD, Subway Crackdown . Patch . November 4, 2019 . November 12, 2019.
  39. Web site: Marchers protest alleged police brutality in Brooklyn subway melee . ABC7 . November 2, 2019 . November 12, 2019.
  40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1lhMCj4ESw&t=278 Speech by Amin Husain as part of Al-Quds Day 2016
  41. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1lhMCj4ESw&t=325 Speech by Amin Husain as part of Al-Quds Day 2016
  42. Web site: Who's Behind the Media Campaign Against a Decolonize This Place Organizer?. 2020-03-16. Hyperallergic. en-US. 2020-05-20.
  43. Blake. J. Herman. 1969. Black Nationalism. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 382. 15–25. 10.1177/000271626938200103. 1037110. 220837953. 0002-7162.
  44. News: Brooklyn Museum Defends Its Hiring of a White Curator of African Art. Salam. Maya. April 6, 2018. The New York Times. April 25, 2019. en-US. 0362-4331.
  45. Web site: The Bad Optics of Fighting for Your Life. May 13, 2021.
  46. Web site: Israel and the Jewish People are Under Attack. June 12, 2021. June 13, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210613020411/https://emetonline.org/israel-under-attack/. dead.

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