More than 100 artists and scholars, including artists Emily Jacir, Hans Haacke and Michael Rakowitz, have signed an open letter: Dr. Sara Nadal-Melsió (ISP), former deputy director of the Independent Research Program (ISP) of the Whitney Museum of American Art, which was phased out in June for a competition performance that would be PareStine’s performance, which was PareStine’s performance.
“Protest as much as possible for this unjust shooting, we write to reopen the ISP.” (The cancellation of work also coincides with the suspension of ISP’s 2025-2026 plan.)
Catalan educator and curator Nadal-Melsió was appointed as the first deputy director in 2024 and became his nominal leader in February after artist and writer Gregg Bordowitz was demoted to the ISP Director General Forces. (The situation of his demotion in the ISP is unclear.) Nadal Melcio’s position was dismissed on June 2 in protest of the canceled letter. No aesthetic outside of my freedom: mourning, arming and expressionby artists Fadl Fakhouri, Noel Maghathe and Fargo Tbakhi on May 12, two days ago, it was part of the Storied program.
“Nadal-Melsió was and remains well suited to the program. Her dismissal was an act of violence in patriarchal institutions, another symptom of many entangled violence, which filled the current atmosphere of inhibition in the United States,” the July letter read. Its signatories also reiterated the demands of artists with the Risk Link (ARC) to request the museum to “convene an independent investigation into the termination of the ISP Deputy Director and its impact on the museum’s academic and artistic freedom”.
No aestheticAccording to its author, in the poem “State of Siege” by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish, entitled “Transnational Political Unity and Review of Twisted Colonial, Capitalism and Anti-Black Violence”. For about an hour, performers are going to explain the “scores” written by Natalie Diaz, Christina Sharpe and Brandon Shimoda through physical and verbal gestures.
According to a statement released by Nadal-Melsió Instagram No aesthetics The Whitney Museum was originally commissioned by a left-wing Jewish magazine after it canceled its leadership’s initial speech in the poetry project on May 12 Jewish water flow. In the video, a performer asks the attendees to “love the Palestinians in full” and asks their participants to stay in the audience and they should leave if they “believe in any avatar of Israel.”
In a statement shared with it Artnews Whitney said in May that the decision to cancel the show was “clear and necessary” and not easy to take.
At the beginning of the show, one of the artists called on anyone who believes in Israel or the United States in any incarnation to leave the audience. Later, the artist praised the specific manifestations of violence and violence,” the museum continued, adding: “Without instances, we did not find that we could leave exhibitions or performances based on their belief systems and solicit members of their community. ”””””””””’
Cancel No aesthetics Public protests were made by ISP curators Bea Ortega Botas, Kennedy Hollins Jones, Tamara Khasanova and Ntshadi Mofokeng and Nadal-Melsió. The three cohorts of ISP, curatorial, studio and critical research have also released statements on social media to support performance.
On May 22, Nadal-Melsió carried out a ruthless genocide in Gaza at home. Unfortunately, today, this means we are also facing unprecedented censorship and threatening our fundamental independence as we pursue what makes the conversation of ISPs.”
Nadal-Melsió added that the ISP performance had no introduction planned for the iteration of the poetry project, and Whitney Director Scott Rothkopf reportedly had not visited the show at the conference or announced a request from Whitney to Whitney to have a conversation with fellow countrymen. Nadal-Melsió was reportedly dismissed on June 2. Artnet Newsthe museum confirmed that her position “will not be able to sustain”.
Founded in 1968 under Ron Clark, the Whitney Independent Research Program has seen hundreds of artists, curators and critics through its nine-month non-degree scholarship. The rumored program consists of three separate programs: 15 applicants were selected to participate in the studio program, four of the curatorial program, while 6 were conducted in the key program, with a total of 25 per cohort. Its roster of outstanding alumni of art stars include Naomi Beckwith, Emily Jacir, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Glenn Ligon and Jenny Holzer. Throughout its history, the ISP has occupied various places in New York City until it settled in the former Greenwich Village Home and Studio in Roy Lichtenstein in 2023, a gift from Whitney.
The censorship dispute surrounding its current cohort has led to Whitney’s pro-Palestinian protests, as well as some of the works of ISP artists presented at the ISP Capstone exhibition in Westbeth Gallery, New York.
“Building a community requires a lot of work and caution, but only a moment of destruction, compromise or instrumental violence can make it at a loss,” said Nadal-Melsió.
Artnews Contacted the Whitney Museum for comment; the story will be updated.
