University Art Museum Director Kimberli Meyer was at her desk drafting opening remarks for the launch of American MONUMENT—an installation examining police killings of black civilians by artist lauren woods that was meant to mark a shift in museum programming—when she was abruptly fired.
“I was fired. I was removed,” said Meyer, who closely collaborated with woods to bringAmerican MONUMENT to the museum at Cal State Long Beach. “And when I asked them why they said, ‘Well you’re an at-will employee so we don’t have to tell you why.’ So it’s a big question mark to me. [Departmental leadership] came in and I had to leave my office on the spot."
Continue article here
Wow, could a museum director be fired like that? This could tell that in some spaces, art is not as freed as sometimes we imagine it to be, as if theoretically it has been generalised. There is always politics surrounding art in terms commercializing market and even the taste of institutions. For me, I fascinated by how she used such situation to make a short performance by even inspiring the spectators to leave the stage.
ReplyDeleteYes. I think these types of creative differences are more common than most people think. Being a curator at a museum or big art center is political to be sure. Many of these disputes are not made public.
Delete