The arts community is diverse and crosses borders, nationalities, systems of faith and belief. We as artists, writers, curators, filmmakers, publishers and workers who produce work, collaborate and communicate, create the core around which institutions and organisations revolve, need to be assured that these are not just safe but humane spaces.
We support Palestinian liberation and call for an end to the killing and harming of all civilians, an immediate ceasefire, the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the end of the complicity of our governing bodies in grave human rights violations and war crimes.
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.”
Silence at this urgent time of crisis and escalating genocide is not a politically neutral position. Over the last few years there have been significant steps to institutionally address social justice and inequality and also for your artistic programmes to benefit from these politics. We now ask that they continue and be extended in recognising the crimes against humanity that the Palestinian people are facing.
The ongoing bombing of Gaza and the killing and forced displacement of its residents has been condemned by Amnesty International, the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, and Action Aid. These, amongst other global bodies, have indicated that the collective punishment of Gaza civilians—which includes the killing of aid workers, journalists, and medics, as well as the destruction of all infrastructure and life-sustaining resources, cutting off water, food, electricity and medicine—amounts to a war crime.
There is ample evidence that we are witnessing the unfolding of a genocide in which the already precarious lives of Palestinians are deemed unworthy of aid, let alone human rights and justice. With impunity, Israel has already undertaken 3 of the 5 defining acts outlined by the United Nations Genocide Convention. As Raz Segal, an Israeli historian and scholar of genocide, writes, “Israel has also intensified its 16-year siege of Gaza—the longest in modern history, in clear violation of international humanitarian law—to a ‘complete siege.’” This directive to accomplish the systemic destruction of Palestinians and Palestine society in Gaza, comes directly from Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who has described his targets in degraded terms, as “human animals.”
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 organisations 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 organisations 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 letter may be signed here. It was first published by Artforum.
Nan Goldin
Laura Poitras
Eyal Weizman
Saidiya Hartman
Peter Doig
Barbara Kruger
Christina Sharpe
Judith Butler
Ariella Azoulay
David Velasco
Rachel Kushner
Cecilia Vicuña
Martha Rosler
Gabi Ngcobo
Marina Warner
Brian Eno
Joan Jonas
Fred Moten
Negar Azimi
Nicole Eisenman
The Otolith Group
Jarvis Cocker
Dionne Brand
M. NourbeSe Philip
Silvia Federici
Shahidul Alam
Sky Hopinka
Wu Tsang
Linder Sterling
Martin Margiela
A.L. Steiner
Hedi El Kholti
Sophia Al-Maria
Zoe Leonard
Tania Bruguera
Michael Rakowitz
Rosalind Nashashibi
Adam Broomberg
Kara Walker
Cameron Rowland
Omar Berrada
Françoise Vergès
Hoor Al-Qasimi
Andrea Fraser
Mykki Blanco
Anne Boyer
Olivia Laing
Meriem Bennani
Johanna Fateman
Kathleen Hanna
Hannah Black
Mati Diop
Doreen St. Félix
Isabella Hammad
Cédric Fauq
Seth Price
Ligia Lewis
Katharina Grosse
Sunil Gupta
Issy Wood
Shumon Basar
Moyra Davey
Danielle Shreir
Jeremy Deller
Tomás Saraceno
Yto Barrada
Zeina Durra
Elisabeth Lebovici
Mark Leckey
Tony Cokes
Maxine Peake
Daniel Sea
Martine Syms
Paige K. Bradley
Sina Najafi
Candice Hopkins
Helen O’Malley
Ariana Reines
Myriam Ben Salah
Helen Cammock
Sin Wai Kin
Ali Cherri
Tobi Haslett
Sarah Nicole Prickett
Fatima Al Qadiri
Christodoulos Panayiotu
Jota Mombaça
Anthea Hamilton
Ruba Katrib
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Siobhan Davies
Gini Alhadeff
Heman Chong
Oscar Murillo
Kostas Stasinopoulos
Denise Ferreira da Silva
Tai Shani
Emily Jacir
Nour Mobarak
Eric Baudelaire
Travis Alabanza
Thea Djordjaze
Mandy El-Sayegh
Larry Achiampong
Lynne Tillman
Leslie Dick
Lisa Robertson
Jennifer Krasinski
Jen Kabat
Catherine Quan Damman
Julia Bryan-Wilson
Blair McClendon
Bhanu Kapil
Victoria Adukwei Bulley
Precious Okoyomon
Jesse Luke Darling
Dora Budor
Adam Linder
P. Staff
Haris Epaminonda
Florence Peake
Zadie Xa
Cécile B. Evans
Laure Prouvost
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Hari Kunzru
Lydia Ourahmane
Iris Touliatou
Massinissa Selmani
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz
Emily LaBarge
Sophie Jung
Susan Sentler
Maxwell Sterling
Oreet Ashery
Neil Beloufa
Shahryar Nashat
Brian Dillon
Gareth Evans
Louisa Buck
Zack Hatfield
Ellen Grieg
Helen Nisbet
bones tan jones
Rebecca Lamarche Vadel
A.K. Burns
Sharon Hayes
Kate Cooper
Johanna Hedva
Jumana Manna
Yuri Pattison
Lola Olufemi
Danielle Dean
Maeve Brennan
Basma al-Sharif
Simon Fujiwara
Lydia Yee
Amal Khalaf
Christelle Oyiri
Adham Faramawy
Gray Wielebinski
Charles Asprey
Zinzi Minott
Yvonne Jones
Carl Gent
Lizzie Graham
Jacob Bard-Rosenberg
Rebecca Lennon
Alia Farid
Carolina Caycedo
Alice Theobald
Hamza Badran
Abdullah Al Mutairi
Rahila Haque
Rebecca Jagoe
Rosa Johan Uddoh
Aura Satz
Emily Pope
Lubna Chowdhary
Sarah Shin
Sam Keogh
Karen Di Franco
Billy Klotsa
Kalliopi Tsipni Kolaza
Zarina Muhammad
Gabrielle de la Puente
Marianna Simnett
Catarina Simoes
Alcides Simoes
Electra Simon
Timmy Simonds
Roxanne Simone
Aled Simons
Evelyn Simons
Harout Simonyan
Robin Simpson
Katie Simpson
Bennett Simpson
Sancintya Mohini Simpson
Sirin Simsek
Georgie Sinclair
Fanny Singer
Akshi Singh
Anamika Singh
Arron Singh
Himali Singh Soin
James Sinno
Daniel Sinsel
Marged Siôn
Chiara Siravo
Eyal Sivan
Shibanee Sivanayagam
Sumugan Sivanesan
Claire Sivier
Rain Siy
Ghita Skali
Pam Skelton
Jonathan Skinner
Nat Skoczylas
Stacy Skolnik
Marna Slappendel
Jessica Sligter
Ala Eddine
Slim Florence Slitine
Basia Sliwinska
Dane Slutzky
Aleksandra Słyż
Alix Smed
Katherine Smith
Joshua Smith
Paul DD Smith
Lily Smith
Juliana Irene Smith
Jana Smith
Lisette Smits
Morgan Snoap
Philippa Snow
Rui Soares
Costa Beatriz Soares
Dias Amar Sokhn
Julia Sokolnicka
Carlos Solano
Eva Solano
Sheida Soleimani
lorena solis
Sonya Sombreuil
Rae-Yen Song
Parul Soni
Marilyn Sonneveld
Sophie Soobramanien
Natasha Soobramanien
Zohra Soorma
Marina Sorbello
Ian Soroka
Natalia Sorzano
Lokman Soua
Mohamed Arbi Soualhia
Douraïd Souissi
V Soukos
Maboula Soumahoro
Filipe Sousa
Carola Spadoni
AQ Spaninks
Alice Sparkly
Kat Andréa Spartà
Ben Spatz
Matthew Specktor
Mitchell Speed
Simon Speiser
Wilf Speller
Alison Sperling
Tobias Spichtig
Julia Spínola
Mari Spirito
Kara Springer
Amanda Spruyt
Giulio Squillacciotti
Dima Srouji
Jonas Staal
koes staassen
Christopher Stackhouse
Malin Stahl
Eve Stainton
kerstin stakemeier
Stefania Stamerrra
Jorgina Stamogianni
Elisavet Stamou
Thomas Stankiewicz
Georgina Starr
Kieran Startup
STASIS STASIS
Selene States
Katrine Staub
Larsen Chloe Stead
Eo Stearn
Eleni Stecopoulos
Tenaya Steed
Tim Steer
Elioa Steffen
Robert Steijn
Isabel Stein
Lucy Stein
Rania Stephan
Bianca Stephens
Ive Stevenheydens
Jack Stevens
Greg Stevens
Jon Sto.
Domingo Alexandra Stock
Lottie Stoddart
Jelena Stojkovic
Mike Stoltz
sophie stone
Lois Stonock
Brett Story
Jordan Strafer
Kate Strain
Carolyn Strauss
Ries Straver
Jorge Stride
Elisa Strinna
Matthew Stuart
Jeffrey Stuker
Andrea Stultiens
Celina Su
Laura Suárez
Anna Della Subin
Elisabeth Subrin
Mizu Sugai
Lucy Suggate
Élia Suleiman
Sara Suliman
Isabelle Sully
champoy sumampong-lim
Caglar Sur
Emma Surya
Eva Susova
David Felix Sutcliffe
Jamie Sutcliffe
Jenna Sutela
Keston Sutherland
Lisa Sutton
Boulomsouk Svadphaiphane
niklas svennung
Sam Swann
Noah Swann
Alia Swastika
Faz SYCO
Alia Syed
Fanta Sylla
Agnieszka Szczotka
Ania Szremski
Ula Tabari
Nina Tabassomi
Yergalem Taffere
Catherine Taft
Ahmed Tag
M. Maryam Taghavi
Giath Taha
Abdellah Taia
Ghadir Taira
Lucine Talalyan
Lynton Talbot
rosario talevi
Anne Tallentire
Justin Tam
Rebecca Tamás
Tashi Tamate Weiss
Megan Tamati-Quennell
Francesca Tamse
Jay Tan
Kai Syng Tan
Koki Tanaka
Preti Taneja
Maria Taniguchi
Ala Tannir
Mireille Tap
Mabel Tapia
Sofía Tarkus
Cristiano Tassinari
Riikka Tauriainen
Olivia Taussig
gaika tavares
Pavel Tavares
Dilruba Tayfun
Allie Taylor
Virgil B/G Taylor
rachel taylor
Henry Taylor
James Taylor-Foster
Fatima Tayob
Moosa Julia Tcharfas
Analisa Teachworth
Ramaya Tegegne
Nadia Tehran
Oyku Tekten
Catherine Telford
Keogh Fiona Teng
Hale Tenger
Alina Tenser
Allie Tepper
Michelle Teran
Astrid Terrazas
Kyzza Terrazas
Niall Tessier-Lavigne
Anne Tetzlaff
Valerie Tevere
Tobias Thaens
ainsley tharp
Inga Charlotte Thiele
Clarissa Thieme
Dustin Thierry
Sindhu Thirumalaisamy
Edward Thomasson
Carmen Thompson
Kate Thompson
Mira Thompson
Mark Thompson
Mimei Thompson
david thomson
Graeme Thomson
Rosa Thorlby
Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura
SoiL Thornton
Cassandra Thornton
Alex Tieghi-Walker
Sung Tieu
Donasia Tillery
Natasha Tillie
Hannah Tilson
Tara Timberman
Willem Timmermans
Jessica Timmis
Maija Timonen
Reden Tina Omayemi
Chloe Ting
Eirini Tiniakou
Eden Tinto
Collins Pankaj Tiwari
Caique Tizzi
Sam Toabe
Daniele Tognozzi
Christine Tohme
Christine Tohme
TC Tolbert
Melania Toma
Danni Toma
Christensen Joan Tomás
Manja Topper
Zach Toppin
Allegria Torassa
Anissa Touati
Oraib Toukan
Maria Toumazou
Esther Towler
Jacinda Tran
Traplev
Antoine Trapp
Ambika Trasi
Daniel Traub
Graham Treacher
Claudia Treacher
Lucie Treacher
Nicole Treska
Justinien Tribillon
Maude Trottier
Sal Trouxa
Léa Trudel
Alice Trueman
Hồng-Ân Trương
Chloe Truong-Jones
M Tsagkaraki
Bokani Tshidzu
Eleni Tsompanidou
GIHAN TUBBEH
Nino Tugushi
Adele Tulli
Mükerrem Tuncay
Alper Turan
Emma Turner
M. Ty
Umtata Tybora
Angeliki Tzortzakaki
Alexander Ubelhor
Natsuko Uchino
Anna Uddenberg
Sonia Uddin
Rosa-Johan Uddoh
Ogemdi Ude
Alvaro Ugarte
Jeppe Ugelvig
Sharif Ukkeh
matthias ulrich
Luisa Ulyett
Deniz Ünal
Publik Universal
Sumitra Upham
Vincent Uribe
Elena Urko
Eva Ursprung
Ibrahim Ustadi
Bas Uterwijk
Kubra Uzun
Jacob V Joyce
Joël Vacheron
Chiara Valci Mazzara
Aldrin Regina Valdez
Edgar Valente
Ana Valentim
Valentina Leduc Valentina
Rachel Valinsky
Laura Vallés Vílchez
Daniella Valz Gen
Natasja van’t Westende
Juha van’t Zelfde
Tuur Van Balen
Bambi van Balen
Marsi Van de Heuvel
Nicolaas van de Lande
Margo van de Linde
Karin van de Wiel
Ilonka Van den Bercken
marcel van den berg
Hannah Van den Brul
Isabelle van den Eynde
Joke Van den Heuvel
Xandra Van der Eijk
Saskia Van der Gucht
Eline van der Vlist
Hanka van der Voet
Joël van Dooren
Marlies van Hak
Kristof Van Hoorde
Nan van Houte
Sofia Van Laer
Nixie Van Laere
Martine van Lubeek
Pauline van Mourik Broekman
wendellien van oldenborgh
Simon(e) van Saarloos
Wim Van Sinderen
David Van Slooten
Mirjam van Tilburg
Niels Van Tomme
Marnix van Uum
Dinis Van Vreden
Barbara Vandecauter
Marika Vandekraats
Karen Vantvelt
Maya Varichon
Emiddio Vasquez
Elisa Vassena
Ana Vaz
Teo Vázquez
Luis Vázquez
Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez
Denisse Vega De Santiago
Antonio Vega Macotela
Miko Veldkamp
Lizzie Veldkamp
Shaunna Vella
Yara Veloso
Andrea Verdecchia
Rodrigo Vergara Bahamondes
Zainub Verjee
Dirk Verschure
Jamila Versi
Nikhil Vettukattil
Eyal Vexler
Mercedes Vicente
Maria João Vicente
Karen Vidangos
Bojana Videkanic
Joao Vieira Torres
Natalia Viera Salgado
Janique Vigier
Diya Vij
Anuradha Vikram
Malu Vilas Boas
Ondine Vinao
Gaia Vincencini
al yene vinokurova
Amalia Violi
Alice Martina Visentin
Marina Vishmidt
Kristian Vistrup Madsen
Lua Vollaard
Clayton Vomero
Shola von Reinhold
Claire Voon
Daniel Vorthuys
Laudie Vrancken
Shishani Vranckx
Fiona Wachera
Francesca Wade
Noha Wadi Moharram
Wim Waelput
Beny Wagner
Tanzim Wahab
Fadi Wahbeh
Hajra Waheed
Jasmine Wahi
Jason Waite
Joe Wakeman
Rinaldo Walcott
Simon Wald-Lasowski
Agnes Walden
Rosmarie Waldrop
Laetitia Walendom
Ellen-Rose Wallace
David Wallraf
Joanna Walsh
Lee Rae Walsh
Helena Walsh
Anne Walsh
Andrew Walsh-Lister
Xiaowei Wang
Augustina Wang
Xiaolu Wang
Adam Wang
Zukiswa Wanner
Emily Wardill
W. Wardita
Becky Warnock
Odessa Warren
Hodan Warsame
Frank Wasser
Martabel Wasserman
Peter Watkins
Kay Watson
Sarah Watson
Alex F. Webb
Cecilia Wee
Jezzel Wee
Leila Weefur
karine wehbé
Niña Weijers
Christopher Weir
Charlott Weise
Benjamin Weissman
Julie Weitz
Matt Welch
Dawn Weleski
Jane Wells
peter welz
Selene Wendt
Sidney Werner
Maya West
Alexa West
Chala Westerman
Howie Whale
Molly M Whawell
Sarah Wheeler
Sam Whetton
Dominique White
Cathy White
Francesca Whiteside
Natalia Whiteside
Francis Whorrall-Campbell
devika wickremesinghe
Tanja Widmann
Judith Wielander
Jamila Wignot
Jordie Wildin
Elvia Wilk
Tin Wilke
quinn wilke
inigo wilkins
Emmeline E. Wilks-Dupoise
Sam Williams
luke williams
Thomas Williams
Bedwyr Williams
Lu Williams
Jennifer Williams
Zoe Williams
Evan Calder Williams
Sophie J Williamson
Elizabeth Willis
Eva Wilson
Rosalind Wilson
Andrew Norman Wilson
Evan Wilson
Stephen Wilson
Annaelle Winand
Julius Windisch
Jodi Windvogel
Lucie Winterson
Lisa Wirth
Katinka Wissing
Lorenza Wistuba
Norbert Witzgall
Kasia Wlaszczyk
Ania Wójtowicz
Matt Wolf
Izabela Wolf
Ilze Wolff
Heinrich Wolff
Courtnie Wolfgang
Liza Wolters
Charmaine Wombwell
Yin Yin Wong
Phoebe Wood
Alisia Wood
Agustina Woodgate
M Woods
suné woods
Jenn Woodward
rosa woolf ainley
Joshua Woolford
Lucy Woollett
Katharina Worf
Nicolas Worms
Nicholas Worrall
Maartje Wortel
Lieke Wouters
Tori Wrånes
Lauren Wright
Isaac Wright
Rain Wu
Salomé Wu
Ruohong Wu
Seth Wulsin
Gesche Würfel
Stefanie Wuschitz
Geo Wyex
Chloe Wyma
Kemar Keanu Wynter
Alicja Wysocka
Daphne Xanthopoulou
Tif XB
Marina Xenofontos
Xiao Xiao
Lorenzo Xiques
Kaye Cain-Nielsen
Günseli Yalcinkaya
Yukiko Yamagata
Nine Fumi Yamamoto-Masson
Samira Yamin
Joy Yamusangie
Nanzhen Yang
Zhiyuan Yang
Madge Yang
Cat Yang
Ekua Yankah
Matvei Yankelevich
Amy Yao
Saubin Yap
Anushiye Yarnell
Yanyi
C. Spencer Yeh
Mawena Yehouessi
seçil yersel
meldia yesayan
Heather Yi
Soojung Yi
Ania Yilmaz
Müge Yilmaz
TingAn Ying
Jameson Yingling
Nicole Yip
alison yip
Breeze Yoko
Charlotte Yonga
Seyoung Yoon
Mia You
Rachel Youn
Eli Young
Jessy Young
Rawan Yousif
Mostafa Youssef
Nádia Yracema
Dayang Yraola
Meng Chieh Yu
Jay Yule
Joan Yulo
Alexey Yurenev
Alice Z Jones
Akram Zaatari
Carine Zaayman
Abbas Zahedi
Waheeda Zaheer
Fares Zaitoon
Adva Zakai
Omar Zaki
Rehana Zaman
Isabella Zamboni
Vazira Zamindar
Niovi Zarampouka-Chatzimanou
Shahin Zarinbal
Constantina Zavitsanos
Maya Zbib
Ajsa Zdravkovic
Manuela Zechner
Mohammed Shamiir Zemmy
Ala Zemzmi
Sixin Zeng
Apex Zero
Zul Othman ZERO
Omar Zeroual
Kyle Zeto
Thorne Mengxi Zhang
Lisa Yin Zhang
Kay Zhang
Gary Zhexi Zhang
Giorgi Zhorzholiani
Wenjie Zhou
Rohan Zhou-Lee
Aisha Zia
Lau Ziegler
Sara Zielinski
Vivian Ziherl
Andrea Zimmerman
zindabad zine
OOMK (One of My Kind) Zine
Andros Zins-Browne
Tirdad Zolghadr
Fernanda Zotovici
Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Philipp Zrenner
Natalia Zuluaga
Fadi Zumot
Hani Zurob
Mara Züst
Anna Zvyagintseva
Mer Zwarts
Gediminas Žygus