Tempers Rising Over Gaza Ceasefire Open Letter: Artforum Fires Top Editor and Artists Call for Boycott

On October 7, Hamas, an Islamic political and militant organization controlling the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on Israel. In response to the ongoing conflict, “An Open Letter From the Art Community to Cultural Organizations” was published on Artforum on October 19. The letter expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and called for an end to the root cause of violence. The nearly 8,000 names who signed the petition include Nan Goldin, Laura Poitras, Brian Eno, Judith Butler, Barbara Kruger, Tania Bruguera, and many others.

As of October 31, the letter reads,

The arts community is diverse and crosses borders, nationalities, systems of faith and belief. We as artists, writers, curators, filmmakers, publishers, and workers who create the core around which institutions and organizations revolve need to be assured that these are not just safe but humane spaces. 
...
We demand that the institutional silence around the ongoing humanitarian crisis that 2.3 million Palestinians are facing in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip be broken immediately. In the words of the UN resident humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian Territory, “It’s about the loss of our humanity if the international community allows this to continue. What we are seeing now is simply inhumane.” 
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We, the undersigned, reject violence against all civilians, regardless of their identity, and we call for ending the root cause of violence: oppression, and the occupation. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask arts organizations to show solidarity with cultural workers and call on our governments to demand an immediate ceasefire and the opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter unhindered.

We believe that the arts organizations and institutions whose mission it is to protect freedom of expression, to foster education, community, and creativity, also stand for freedom of life and the basic right of existence. We call on you to refuse inhumanity, which has no place in life or art, and make a public demand from our governments to call for a ceasefire. 

The next day, art dealers Dominique Lévy, Brett Gorvy, and Amalia Dayan published the response in which they condemned the letter for being one-sided and not acknowledging the crimes committed on October 7:

We are distressed by the open letter recently posted on Artforum, which does not acknowledge the ongoing mass hostage emergency, the historical context, and the atrocities committed in Israel on October 7, 2023—the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. 

Open letter has continued to go through changes since its initial publication. Italicized text appeared at the top stating that the letter “reflects the views of the undersigned individual parties and was not composed, directed, or initiated by Artforum or its staff,” and several names disappeared from the list. In response to the critique, a bolded text was added and stated that writers shared “revulsion at the horrific massacres of 1400 people in Israel conducted by Hamas on October 7.”

On October 26, the New York Times reported that editor-in-chief David Velasco was fired over publishing the letter and breaking the rules of Artforum’s publishing process. On the same day, Artforum publishers Danielle McConnell and Kate Koza released a statement. They claimed that the letter was shared without the prior knowledge of the editorial team and was not in line with Artforum’s editorial process, putting the team members “in the untenable position of being represented by a statement that is not uniformly theirs.”

Velasco has held the position since 2017. In response, he told the New York Times, “I have no regrets. I’m disappointed that a magazine that has always stood for freedom of speech and the voices of artists has bent to outside pressure.”

However, the controversy doesn’t end here. Following the news of Velasco’s firing, at least four editorial members have resigned from their positions. Moreover, influential art dealers and gallerists reportedly launched a campaign to force big names on the letter to withdraw their support. The names of Peter Doig, Joan Jonas, and Tomás Saraceno are no longer among the signatures. Other artists are calling for the boycott - Nan Goldin and Nicole Eisenman told the New York Times that they would no longer be working with Artforum.

Notably, a new open letter from an unknown source has made an appearance on Google documents - “A United Call from the Art World: Advocating for Humanity” now has nearly 6,000 signatures.