MoMA Protests Trump Entry Ban by Rehanging Work by Artists from Muslim Nations

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

In one of the strongest protests yet by a major cultural institution against President Trump’s executive order on immigration, the Museum of Modern Art has rehung part of its permanent collection with works by artists from some of the majority-Muslim nations whose citizens are blocked from entering the United States.

Seven works by artists such as the Sudanese painter Ibrahim el-Salahi, the Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, and the Los Angeles-based Iranian video artist Tala Madani, were installed Thursday night in MoMA’s fifth-floor galleries, replacing seven works by Picasso, Matisse and Picabia, among other Western artists. Alongside each work is a wall text that plainly states the museum’s intentions: “This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on Jan. 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museum’s collection installed throughout the fifth-floor galleries to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum as they are to the United States.”

Except for Hadid and Mr. el-Salahi, the other artists are all Iranian by birth or heritage. They are Ms. Madani; the sculptor Parviz Tanavoli; the draftsman Charles Hossein Zenderoudi; the photographer Shirana Shahbazi; and the painter Marcos Grigorian. In addition, a large sculpture of aluminum and steel by Siah Armajani, an American artist born in Iran, was placed in the glass-walled lobby courtyard overlooking the garden.

-snip-

The Museum of Modern Art has also scheduled four screenings later this month of films by directors subject to the travel ban. They include “Al-Yazerli” (1974), an experimental feature by the Iraqi-born German director Kais al-Zubaidi, and “Stars in Broad Daylight” (1988), by Oussama Mohammad, a Syrian filmmaker exiled in Paris.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/arts/design/moma-protests-trump-entry-ban-with-work-by-artists-from-muslim-nations.html

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Bravo!!!

[niyad]

1. k and r

[demigoddess]

2. good for them!!!

[hibbing]

3. Sweet

I'm feeling a real movement, I'm really feeling energized, last week I was left for dead and had given up. I want to see this type of stuff grow grow grow.

Peace

[Aristus]

4. K&R!

Love the MoMA!

[tparrett62]

5. Proud to be a MoMA member

Will have to take the LIRR in and see the new exhibits.

They go low, we go high.

[saidsimplesimon]

6. thank you highplains

A real class act, The Museum of Modern Art's staff and leadership.

Along that same line, I heard this NPR interview with John Legend. He is speaking out for US. Thank you John and family.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/03/512860059/john-legend-on-talking-politics-in-public-even-when-its-hard

John Legend On Talking Politics In Public, Even When It's Hard

February 3, 20174:52 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition

Even outside of his music career, John Legend has led a pretty charmed life. The son of a Midwest factory worker, he was high-school prom king, graduated early at 16 and turned down Harvard to attend another Ivy League school — The University of Pennsylvania. Oh, and he's married to a model.
snip...
"I would say as we have celebrated our love in public, most of the response has been very positive," he says. "But as we've maybe spoken about a certain person who's running the country right now, there's a significant amount of people that disagree with us and will make it clear that they do, and say we should shut up."