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1 BLACK LIVES MATTER Activist Movement International The power of the Black Lives Matter ( ) movement, launched back in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, continues to be felt at every level of the artworld and with an increased prominence and urgency in 2020: in the resurgence of statue-toppling in the and across Europe, as campaigners seek to redress injustices of the historical record; in the visibility of Black figurative painting over the past few years; in awards and appointments; in the rush by galleries to diversify their rosters; in the belated attempts to decolonise collections and in the deaccessioning that might make it possible; in the postponement of Philip Guston Now; or in the Whitney’s bungling of an exhibition about the protests. Both an explicit movement and a dispersed idea, has come to symbolise a global reckoning on racial justice and a paradigm shift in contemporary culture. What started as a protest against police brutality in the United States has catalysed movements from Britain to South Africa, dramatically reshaping the cultural landscape within which the international artworld operates. And as it spreads around the world of art, it impacts on how everyone makes work, displays collections and exhibitions, and engages with the public. In the process it has triggered a selfreckoning, a consideration of our own biases, complicities and allyships. Black Lives Matter, and the Movement for Black Lives network of which it is a part, is distinguished from singleissue predecessors like the antiapartheid coalition by the intensity of its attention towards both the obvious and the oft-ignored structures of power that generate inequality. And so, on the principle that the values of a society are enshrined in the culture it valorises, museums have found themselves at the centre of fierce debates around representation, identity and the reproduction of injustice. Operating as a network of affi liated interests rather than a top-down hierarchy, Black Lives Matter also provides a method for a decentralised, decolonised and more equitable artworld. More importantly, it’s an ongoing working-through of historical imbalances, incorporating discussion, redressal and a recognition that we can change how we all work and structure things. That’s the promise, but there is still a lot of work to be done. 54 ArtReview
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2 P h o t o : J i n P a n j i . C o u r t e s y G u d s k u l 3 P h o t o : M e g a n M e d e n h a l l ( S a r r ) 4 © J e n n y H o l z e r , A r t i s t s R i g h t s S o c i e t y ( A R S ) , N e w Y o r k FELWINE SARR & BÉNÉDICTE SAVOY 3 2 RUANGRUPA Artist Collective Indonesian Last Year 10 What do you do when a global pandemic interrupts your plans for the world’s largest and most influential exhibition of contemporary art? The answer, if you’re ruangrupa, is to transform your workspaces into emergency kitchens and start fabricating personal protective equipment for the local population. Lumbung, the curatorial concept for the Jakartabased collective’s 2022 edition of Documenta, describes a granary for rice that, once harvested, is shared among the community. Both the action and the principle speak to the nine-strong group’s mission, since its foundation in 2000, to explore alternative models of artistic production to those structured by competition, capitalism and colonialism. It remains to be seen how a mushrooming team of collaborators – nine partner initiatives, five extra members of the artistic team, two design studios – will translate a focus on conversation and assembly into an exhibition on Documenta’s scale. But, in a holding year for ruangrupa, its commingling of work and life puts forward an increasingly influential model for artists and institutions struggling to adapt to a changed world. Academics Senegalese / French Last Year 6 No single government-commissioned report in recent decades has had such a dramatic impact on cultural debates as that written by economist Sarr and art historian Savoy for French president Emmanuel Macron in 2018. By proposing the unconditional restitution of any object in national collections obtained through colonial-era ‘theft, looting, despoilment, trickery, and forced consent’, the two reignited long-smouldering arguments over the role of Western museums and the artefacts they hold. The repatriation debate has only become more heated in the last year. Savoy has become a de facto spokesperson for repatriation, speaking up for Congolese activist Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza – arrested for symbolically reclaiming an artefact from the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris – while embarking on a £700k academic research project into the provenance of European cultural treasures. Sarr, meanwhile, has turned his attention to the urgent issue of Africa’s political and economic response to -19 and after. And in October France confirmed that it would return 27 colonial-era artefacts to Benin and Senegal. 4 #METOO Activist Movement International Last Year 21 Three years on from the global reckoning with sexual harassment, catalysed by the crimes of movie producer Harvey Weinstein, but which snowballed to every sector of society, men are still being called to account (and still needing to be called to account). These allegations might be made through the old media (against Dutch artist Julian Andeweg by newspaper , for example – he has not responded to the allegations of rape and assault – or Iranian artist Aydin Aghdashloo, by The New York Times – Aghdashloo denies the misconduct allegations) or through the proliferation of anonymous ‘call out’ new-media accounts such as @surviving_the_artworld and @jerrygogosian. This last triggered the sacking of Gagosian director Sam Orlofsky after it published various allegations against the gallerist (who has not responded). Likewise, after @surviving_the_artworld published claims of misconduct against Jon Rafman (which he denies), the Canadian artist had shows in Hanover, Washington, , and Montreal cancelled, and Montreal gallery Bradley Ertaskiran dropped him from its roster. December 2020 55

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1 BLACK LIVES MATTER

Activist Movement International The power of the Black Lives Matter ( ) movement, launched back in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, continues to be felt at every level of the artworld and with an increased prominence and urgency in 2020: in the resurgence of statue-toppling in the and across Europe, as campaigners seek to redress injustices of the historical record; in the visibility of Black figurative painting over the past few years; in awards and appointments; in the rush by galleries to diversify their rosters; in the belated attempts to decolonise collections and in the deaccessioning that might make it possible; in the postponement of Philip Guston Now; or in the Whitney’s bungling of an exhibition about the protests. Both an explicit movement and a dispersed idea, has come to symbolise a global reckoning on racial justice and a paradigm shift in contemporary culture. What started as a protest against police brutality in the United States has catalysed movements from Britain to South Africa, dramatically reshaping the cultural landscape within which the international artworld operates. And as it spreads around the world of art, it impacts on how everyone makes work, displays collections and exhibitions, and engages with the public. In the process it has triggered a selfreckoning, a consideration of our own biases, complicities and allyships.

Black Lives Matter, and the Movement for Black Lives network of which it is a part, is distinguished from singleissue predecessors like the antiapartheid coalition by the intensity of its attention towards both the obvious and the oft-ignored structures of power that generate inequality. And so, on the principle that the values of a society are enshrined in the culture it valorises, museums have found themselves at the centre of fierce debates around representation, identity and the reproduction of injustice. Operating as a network of affi liated interests rather than a top-down hierarchy, Black Lives Matter also provides a method for a decentralised, decolonised and more equitable artworld. More importantly, it’s an ongoing working-through of historical imbalances, incorporating discussion, redressal and a recognition that we can change how we all work and structure things. That’s the promise, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

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