Kara Walker, Danh Vo, MOCA, Marian Goodman Sign Petition Against Immigration Ban

The petition calls the order unjust.

Protestors rally during a demonstration against the Muslim immigration ban at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 28, 2017 in New York City. Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images.

Dozens of institutions, galleries, artists, critics, and curators have signed a petition against President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a temporary ban on entry to the US from citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries.

Among those who have added their names are museums like the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, galleries including Marian Goodman, curators and museum leaders including Stefan Kalmár, Nancy Spector, and Philip Tinari, and artists like Carol Bove, Mariam Ghani, Walid Raad, Anri Sala, and Lawrence Weiner.

The move complements an existing petition by academics. Art schools have spoken out forcefully against the ban, as have prominent individuals in the art world, including Getty President James Cuno.

The full text of the petition and list of signatories at publication time follows:

We the undersigned individuals of the international contemporary art field call for the immediate and total overturning of the Executive Order signed by the 45th President of the United States on January 27, 2017, banning entry to any non-US citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen; this encompasses the 90-day suspension of entry by people of those countries (which includes dual nationals), the 120-day suspension of entry by refugees, and the indefinite suspension of entry for Syrian refugees.

In addition to the humanitarian crisis exacerbated by these discriminatory measures, our fellow colleagues are being profiled based on race and/or religion. Should our colleagues have to leave the United States for any reason, they must not fear being denied return; nor should they have to cancel exhibitions or research because they cannot enter this country. Our field is dependent upon international collaboration and cross-cultural exchange, and these cross-border and cross-cultural collaborations benefit the general public; the ban thus affects all of us.

The entirety of the Executive Order is unjust and must be overturned.

Signatories (in random order):

Barbara Kruger, artist, New York

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Helen Molesworth, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Paula Katz, Executive Director, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis

Douglas Crimp, Professor of Art History, University of Rochester

Danh Vo, artist, Mexico City

Joan Jonas, artist, New York

Eungie Joo, Artistic Director, 5th Anyang Public Art Project, Korea

Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

Marian Goodman, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

Negar Azimi, critic/editor, Bidoun, New York

Susanne Ghez, curator, Chicago

Adrián Villar Rojas, artist, Rosario, Argentina

Nancy Spector, curator, New York City

Nairy Baghramian, artist, Berlin

Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

Chantal Crousel, Chantal Crousel Gallery, Paris

Niklas Svennung, Chantal Crousel Gallery, Paris

Lawrence Weiner, artist, New York

Andy Stillpass, collector, Cincinnati

Kathy Halbreich, Associate Director and Laurenz Foundation Curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Laura Owens, artist, Los Angeles

Massimiliano Gioni, curator, New York

Joanne Heyler, Founding Director, The Broad, Los Angeles

Sarah Loyer, Assistant Curator, The Broad, Los Angeles

Rene Gabri, artist, New York

Ken Lum, artist, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Walid Raad, artist, New York

Stefan Kalmár, Director, ICA, London

Wade Guyton, artist, New York

Beatrix Ruf, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Liam Gillick, artist, New York

Caroline Bourgeois, curator, Paris

Jessica Morgan, Director, Dia Art Foundation, New York

Louise Lawler, artist, New York

Carol Bove, artist, New York

Philip Tinari, critic/curator, Director, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, curator, New York

Jörg Heiser, Director Institute for Art in Context, University of the Arts, Berlin/Editor at large, Frieze magazine, Berlin

Eleanor Cayre, Director, Cayre Art Group, New York

Petzel Gallery, New York

Friedrich Petzel, Petzel Gallery, New York

Amy Sillman, artist, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main

Rob Pruitt, artist

Shirana Shahbazi, artist, Zurich

Dara Birnbaum, artist, New York

Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Rachel Harrison, artist, New York

Andrew Weiner, Assistant Professor of Art Theory and Criticism, Steinhardt, New York

Kristina Lee Podesva, artist, Bruna Press, Bellingham, WA

Pierre Huyghe, artist, Brooklyn

Linda Yablonsky, critic, New York

Carol Greene, New York

Cheryl Donegan, artist, New York

Kate Fowle, Chief Curator Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow/Director at Large, Independent Curators International, New York

David Joselit, Distinguished Professor, PhD Program in Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York

Brent Sikkema, Owner, Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, New York City

Francisco-Fernando Granados, artist/Assistant Professor, OCAD University, Toronto

Kara Walker, artist, New York

Anthony Elms, Chief Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Wendy Vogel, critic and independent curator, Brooklyn

Catherine Opie, artist, UCLA, Los Angeles

Johanna Burton, curator/critic, New York

Vincent Fecteau, artist, San Francisco

Jens Hoffmann, curator/writer, New York

Marta Kuzma, Dean, Yale School of Art, New Haven

Paul Chan and Badlands Unlimited, New York

Jerome Bel, choreographer, Paris

Alhena Katsof, curator, New York

Kenneth Goldsmith and UbuWeb, New York

Seth Price, artist, New York

Anri Sala, artist, Berlin

Trisha Donnelly, artist, New York

Gavin Brown, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

Julie Ault, artist, New York

Amy Zion, curator and critic, New York

Tacita Dean, artist, Berlin

Mariam Ghani, artist, New York

Dan Fox, writer, Co-editor, Frieze magazine, New York

George Baker, Professor, Department of Art History, UCLA, Los Angeles

Bettina Funcke, writer/editor, New York

Achim Hochdörfer, Director, Collection Brandhorst, Munich

Gerard Byrne, artist, Dublin

Jan Tumlir, critic, Los Angeles

Amanda Sharp, Frieze, London

Mark Dion, artist, New York

Brian Holmes, critic, Paris

Peter Eleey, curator, New York

Sung Hwan Kim, artist, Berlin

Kelley Walker, artist, New York

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