Artists are imprisoned and exiled and art continues to be banned and destroyed, which demonstrates the power of images to unsettle, to speak truth to power, and to question our cherished cultural norms and ideas about what is sacred. Join artists, scholars, and museum directors to discuss the power of art and the importance of advocating for art, artists, and freedom of expression.
Ai Weiwei will give the keynote address via a video he is creating for the conference that addresses “The Censorship of Artists: Artists in Prison, Artists in Exile,” followed by a panel discussion with Melissa Chiu (Hirshorn Museum), Ethan Cohen (Ethan Fine Arts), and Minky Worden (Human Rights Watch).
The program pairs artists with critics, museum directors, and scholars like Paul Chan and Paul Cotter (NYTimes), Shirin Neshat and Jack Persekian (The Palestine Museum), and Ricardo Dominguez and Stephen Duncombe (New York University).
Scholars Olaf Peters (Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg), Emily Braun (Hunter College and the Graduate Center), and David Freedberg (Columbia University) will address the history of banning art. Agnes Gund will be the session’s discussant.
One session will be dedicated to artists living in exile, featuring Burmese artist, Chaw Ei Thein, and others.
Finally, Jeffrey Deitch (art dealer), Boris Groys, (art critic), Jack Persekian, (Palestinian Museum director), Lisa Phillips, (New Museum director), and Svetlana Mintcheva (program director at the National Coalition Against Censorship) will examine self-censorship in arts institutions.