Culture Strike

In an age of protest, culture and museums have come under fire. Protests of museum funding—such as the Metropolitan Museum accepting Sackler family money—and boards, for example, the Whitney appointing tear gas manufacturer Warren Kanders, have roiled cultural institutions across the world, from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi to the Akron Art Museum. At the same time, there have never been more calls for museums to work for social change, leading to demands for a new role for culture.

As director of the Queens Museum, Laura Raicovich helped transform that New York municipal institution into a public commons for art and activism, organising high-powered exhibitions that were also political protests. Then, in January 2018, she resigned after a dispute with the Queens Museum board and city officials became a public controversy—she had objected to the Israeli government using the museum for an event featuring Vice President Mike Pence.

In Culture Strike, Raicovich explains some of the key museum flashpoints, providing historical context for the current controversies. She shows how art museums arose as colonial institutions bearing an ideology of neutrality, which masks their role in upholding capitalist values. Additionally, she suggests ways in which museums can be reinvented to better serve public ends.