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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/arts/design/whitney-biennial-art-palestinians-message-gaza.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ck0.j2RE.w8FyejBPFZ5s&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">nytimes.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">In Whitney Biennial Artwork, a Message Reveals Itself: ‘Free Palestine’</h1>
<div class="gmail-css-103l8m3"><div class="gmail-css-1u5onbp epjyd6m1"><div class="gmail-css-233int epjyd6m0"><p class="gmail-css-4anu6l e1jsehar1"><span class="gmail-byline-prefix">By </span><span class="gmail-css-1baulvz gmail-last-byline"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/zachary-small" class="gmail-css-n8ff4n e1jsehar0">Zachary Small</a> - </span><span class="gmail-css-1sbuyqj e16638kd3">March 14, 2024</span></p></div></div></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-site-content"><p id="gmail-article-summary">Museum
curators said they had been unaware that the artist Demian DinéYazhi’
included the message through the flickering letters of their neon
installation.</p><div><div><span><img alt="Three sentences with cursive neon letters attached to frames point toward windows at the Whitney Museum." src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/03/15/multimedia/00whitney-secret/12biennial-hpjc-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" width="395" height="263" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;"></span></div><span>Demian
DinéYazhi’ created an installation titled “we must stop imagining
apocalypse/genocide + we must imagine liberation.” On Wednesday, museum
officials said they were unaware that some tiny blinking neon letters
also spelled out the message “Free Palestine.”</span><span><span>Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Charlie Rubin for The New York Times</span></span></span></div><div><p><span>March 14, 2024</span><span>Updated <span>3:03 p.m. ET</span></span></p></div><div><p>Throughout its history, the Whitney Biennial has often reflected the heated discourse of the art world, welcoming <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/arts/design/dana-schutz-emmett-till-painting-protests.html" title="">provocative</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/arts/design/racially-themed-work-stirs-conflict-at-whitney-biennial.html" title="">work</a> that might <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/whitney-warren-kanders-resigns.html" title="">ruffle</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/05/arts/at-the-whitney-a-biennial-with-a-social-conscience.html" title="">feathers</a>.
But museum officials and curators said they were taken by surprise by a
message that revealed itself in the flickering lights of a neon
installation.</p><p>On Wednesday evening the Whitney Museum of American Art confirmed that an artwork by the Indigenous artist and activist <a href="https://www.queer-art.org/demian-dineyazhi" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Demian DinéYazhi’</a> had blinking lights that slowly spelled out the phrase “Free Palestine.”</p><p>The
artwork originated with poetry written before the outbreak of the
Israel-Hamas war and bears the title, “we must stop imaging
apocalypse/genocide + we must imagine liberation.” It was inspired by
Indigenous resistance movements and the Diné activist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/us/klee-benally-dead.html#:~:text=He%20helped%20found%20a%20punk,Native%20American%20and%20environmental%20causes." title="">Klee Benally</a>, who died in December and was a friend of the artist.</p></div><div><div><div><span><img alt="An exterior of the museum shows, through the glass windows, the artwork illuminated in such a way that only a few letters on each panel are lit." src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/03/14/multimedia/14whitney-secret-new-02-tlbk/14whitney-secret-new-02-tlbk-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="395" height="263" style="margin-right: 25px;"></span></div></div><span>At times the neon lights spell out the words “Free Palestine.”</span><span><span>Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Karsten Moran for The New York Times</span></span></span></div><div><p>“It
is about Indigenous resistance and opposition to forms of settler
colonialism,” DinéYazhi' said in an interview, referring to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/arts/what-is-settler-colonialism.html" title="">a concept rooted in academia</a> and studies of societies where one population displaces and dominates another.</p></div><div><p>Officials
at the museum, including the exhibition’s curators, said that they had
not been aware of the message, which most viewers missed at first. The
artwork arrived shortly before the exhibition’s installation; curators
noticed the flickering lights but thought they were supposed to draw a
viewer’s attention to words like “genocide” and “liberation.”</p><p>Officials
at the museum, when asked earlier this week about the title of the work
and whether it referred to Gaza, initially said that the piece had been
conceived before the current conflict and was a reflection on
Indigenous resistance movements. They later said that they had not known
about the message, which was added when the work was fabricated in the
fall, but that the message would not have affected their decision to
display the art.</p></div><div><div><p><span>Image</span></p><div><span><img alt="Red neon letters spell phrases and words including “must stop” and “fascist” and “capitalist hierarchies.”" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/03/14/multimedia/14whitney-secret-new-03-tlbk/14whitney-secret-new-03-tlbk-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="395" height="263" style="margin-right: 25px;"></span></div></div><span>The artist said the work was inspired by Indigenous resistance movements and the Diné activist Klee Benally,</span><span><span>Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Karsten Moran for The New York Times</span></span></span></div><div><p>Annie Armstrong, a writer for the publication Artnet News, noted the “Free Palestine” message in <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-big-surprise-at-the-whitney-biennial-opening-no-protests-2452030" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an article</a> about the exhibition yesterday.</p></div><div><p>“The
museum did not know of this subtle detail when the work was installed,”
said Angela Montefinise, chief communications and content officer, who
added that there were no plans to remove or change the artwork. “The
Biennial has long been a place where contemporary artists address timely
matters, and the Whitney is committed to being a space for artists’
conversations.”</p><p>Museums around the country have struggled to
respond to the Israel-Hamas war as artists, employees, trustees and the
public scrutinize their statements on the conflict. And within the
culture industry, there has been a wave of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/arts/design/artforum-israel-hamas-war.html#:~:text=The%20magazine's%20first%20issue%20since,about%20the%20Israel%2DHamas%20war." title="">resignations</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/arts/design/artforum-boycott-goldin-eisenman.html" title="">boycotts</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/arts/artforum-editor-fired-david-velasco-palestine-gaza.html" title="">firings</a> that have come with addressing the war.</p><p>DinéYazhi’
said the flickering message aligned with the deeper meaning of their
artwork. “The piece in its final form and as it currently exists today
is a response to being situated within settler colonial institutions,”
the artist said.</p></div><br></div></div></div>
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