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June 23, 2020

Letter from the editor:

If anyone tells you protest doesn't work, then they haven't been paying attention. After a slew of prominent sculptures celebrating white supremacy or lauding prominent slave traders or owners have come down, New York City, under the advice of the American Museum of Natural History, has announced plans to remove the museum's contentious Theodore Roosevelt sculpture, which has been a lightning rod for protests since it was erected in the middle of the last century. I would recommend revisiting this article by Nick Mirzoeff about the statue. He writes:

Let’s address the statue. Why do so many people see it as signifying a “racial hierarchy,” leading to protests every decade the statue has been up? All the members of the public quoted find the statue racist, although they take different positions about removal. Even the museum’s own materials for the exhibition use the term “racial hierarchy.” The statue makes a simple visual distinction: Roosevelt is massive and on horseback, dominating the African and Native figures. Most importantly, the children interviewed get that. And it’s through such visual shocks that racism is learned.

Mirzoeff makes such an important point about the role of public art in the education of youth, especially since the museum is popular with children and student groups.

This past weekend, we released our newest Sunday Edition, this one on the topic of Juneteenth. When we planned this, we couldn't have known the groundswell of support the holiday would receive after a new wave of Black Lives Matter protests ignited and changed the world over. I hope you use the edition to explore the various layers and stories that an important holiday like this represents.

I'll be off next week for a much-needed break, and wish you and your loved ones a restful holiday, as I return after the Fourth of July. While I'm gone, Hyperallergic will be in good hands under the direction of Senior Editor Elisa Wouk Almino.

After Years of Protest, Theodore Roosevelt Statue Will Be Removed From American Natural History Museum

An internal memo to the museum’s staff over the weekend was the first to announce the decision to remove the controversial statues on Central Park West.

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Standout MFA Work From Two of LA’s Beloved Art Schools, CalArt and Otis

As part of a series on virtual MFA presentations across the country, we asked students to share their work and what it was like to adapt their projects to a virtual setting.

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Rhode Island School of Design Presents Senior Show 2020

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Critics Question Restaging of Félix González-Torres’s Fortune Cookie Installations During Pandemic

Galleries David Zwirner and Andrea Rosen asked 1,000 participants to recreate a work consisting of a pile of fortune cookies. But staging the work with little context, amid a global pandemic and mounting anti-Asian sentiment, struck some as poorly thought-out.

Meet LA’s Art Community: Suzanne Isken on How “People Have Embraced Craft” During COVID-19

This week, we interview Suzanne Isken, who has been the executive director at Craft Contemporary since 2011.

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Queer Art Workers Reflect: Hanako Wada Is Hosting LGBTQ Study Groups for Theater Folks

Hanako Wada is a stage actor by training and a FtM transgender person.

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