by Sage Latmanwith forward
The Whitney Museum of American Art has more than 27,000 pieces in its collection. On July 3, artist Jonathan Allen attempted to add a few more to draw attention to what he considers “Israeli atrocities.”
Late that night, Allen vandalized two electronic displays outside the Whitney, a contemporary art museum in Manhattan, plastered posters accusing Israel of genocide and targeting Palestinian children.
Staff soon removed the posters after being notified of the vandalism, the museum said in an emailed statement. “I think it’s important for artists to take risks and use private property and unconventional spaces for political and social purposes,” Allen said. Forward.
“The museum maintains a zero-tolerance policy for vandalism, harassment, discrimination, or bias of any kind,” Whitney Director of Communications Ashley Reese wrote.
This is not the first time pro-Palestinian protests have targeted the Whitney. Last year, the museum planned to mourn Palestinians killed during the Israel-Hamas war. When a performer asked audience members to leave a previous performance “if they believed in Israel in any incarnation,” Whitney canceled the show.
Shortly thereafter, the Writers’ Group Against the War in Gaza held a protest At the Whitney, pamphlets were passed around demanding the “removal of board members involved in genocide, militarism, and apartheid.”
Allen’s installation is part of that barrier series, in which he applied transparent poster-sized vinyl stickers with political messages to create a flashing effect on digital advertising screens.
Since 2019, Allen has installed more than 400 barriers, starting with traditional paper posters. When New York City and the MTA added more digital ad displays, he transformed the posters into their current iteration, featuring quotes from public figures most recently critical of Trump or Israel. Allen installs most of his barriers on city-owned property, such as sidewalk advertisements or subway monitors — even at children’s entrances to the Brooklyn Public Library.
He admits that his project is “technically temporary vandalism,” but explains that the pieces are easily removable and don’t damage the displays below.
For his most recent interruption, Allen used a monitor owned by the Whitney without permission from the museum. Allen chose the Whitney because he believes it is the “contemporary corporate field of the art industry.”
“I think it was important to bring attention to this type of issue in this context,” he said.
A Allen and Aye’s joint Instagram post on Palestine Said installation highlights a recent result United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry Report
The Israeli government has widely criticized the report, calling it “defamatory” and a “defamatory fraud” and accusing the commission of bias from its inception. Israel did not provide any information to the commission for investigation.
“Israeli security forces deliberately target and kill Palestinian children,” one poster said. Another poster said: “If you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.”
Critics of the installation echoed the criticism of the Israeli government. Hen MagigAn Israeli writer and content creator called the display a “blood libel”. D Stop antagonizing Campaign X also criticized the display. “The goal is to denigrate the Jews.”
Allen believes this is a mischaracterization. “I fully support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and I support Israel where it has a right to exist,” he said. “I don’t think the discussion of what’s happening in Gaza depends on that at all.”
Although Allen’s installations are usually deleted “within hours,” he says each one “has a second life, because it lives on social media, where it gets the most attention.”
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Previously published On forward
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Photo by Max Harlinking on Unsplash
