This Week in Art 11.6-11.12: Artists Fights Sexism and Harassment with #NotSurprised

Lindsey Davis

6 years ago

Jenny Holzer. Truisms, 1982. Installation view, Times Square, New York. Photo: Public Art Fund.

Laurie Anderson, Cindy Sherman, Abigail DeVille, Barbara Kruger, Catherine Opie, Tania Bruguera, and thousands of other artists, writers, curators and directors have signed an open letter condemning Artforum publisher Knight Landesman, who resigned last month after a lawsuit accused him of sexual harassment. The campaign, titled Not Surprised, pledges to fight against sexism and sexual harassment in the art world, and takes its name from a 1982 Jenny Holzer Truism, “Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”

Also this week:

Barbara Kruger’s work is filling New York City. The artist has designed limited edition MetroCards that were released last Wednesday, and Kruger-designed merchandise is being sold in SoHo in conjunction with the artist’s Performa installation.
Mel Chin is collaborating with fashion designer Tracy Reese on a new fashion brand aimed at transforming empty water bottles in Flint, Michigan into clothing. The “Flint Fit” collection will premiere at the Queens Museum with a fashion show and exhibition next April.
Finally in awards this week, Mark Bradford won Wall Street Journal Magazine’s 2017 Innovator Award, Laurie Anderson was awarded France’s insignia of Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Catherine Opie won Queer/Art/Prize’s Sustained Achievement award, and Tala Madani was honored at MOCA’s Distinguished Women in the Arts luncheon in Los Angeles. Madani is also being honored alongside Jenny Holzer, Katharina Grosse, Mary Heilmann, Susan Rothenberg, Kiki Smith, and Sarah Sze at tonight’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden gala.

A permanent exhibition at the Whitney Museum, An Incomplete History of Protest, looks at how artists have confronted the political and social issues of their day. The exhibition features the work of Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, and Julie Mehretu among others.

Beginning Friday, November 10, Carrie Mae Weems will be presenting her series of photographs, Beacon, at the Edward Hopper House. The show is being held as part of the artist winning the Edward Hopper Citation of Merit for Visual Artists, and will be on view through February 25, 2018.

Saturday, November 11 from noon–3:30pm—Mark Bradford will be speaking at the Baltimore Museum of Art with the museum’s director Christopher Bedford in a discussion entitled “Making a Path.”

This is the last week to see the exhibition Andrea Baldeck and Ursula von Rydingsvard: Visionary Women at Moore College of Art & Design. The show closes Saturday.

On Wednesday Mark Bradford is debuting one of his largest works to date at the Hirshhorn Museum. Entitled Pickett’s Charge, the monumental new commission spans nearly 400 feet and will be on view through November 12, 2018.

Tuesday, November 7 from 6:30-8pm—Our 2014 New York Close Up film on Mary Mattingly is screening at Ringling College of Art & Design as part of the event “Access + Mobility.”

On Friday the Frist Center for the Visual Arts is opening a solo exhibition by Nick Cave. Entitled Nick Cave: Feat., the show will be on view through June 24, 2018.

Friday, November 10 at 8pm & Saturday November 11 at 2pm & 8pm—William Kentridge’s chamber opera Refuse the Hour will be premiering on the West Coast this weekend at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.).

Jenny Holzer’s series of large-scale light projections, For Leonard Cohen, are coming to Montreal November 7–11 as part of Musée d’art contemporain’s exhibition Leonard Cohen – Une brèche en toute chose / A Crack in Everything.

Last week a new solo exhibition by Hiroshi Sugimoto opened at Marian Goodman Gallery Paris. Entitled Surface Tension, the show is on view through December 22.

This is the last week to see Cai Guo-Qiang’s first exhibition in Russia. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts commissioned a new series of works by the artist for the October Revolution’s centenary, and October closes this Sunday, November 12.