Police were called to Manhattan’s Greene Naftali gallery on Tuesday evening, July 23, after an autonomous group of activists disrupted a book event for an exhibition on the late German filmmaker Harun Farocki.
Ten anonymous activists unfurled banners and handed out fliers at an event promoting the newly published book Harun Farocki: Forms of Intelligence by film scholar Nora M. Alter. They claimed the gallery “censored” elements relating to Palestine from its exhibition Inextinguishable Fire, a show curated by Antje Ehmann exploring how Farocki’s work documented the ubiquity of the military-industrial complex.
Previous iterations of the exhibition, also curated by Ehmann, have been shown at venues including the Berlin gallery Trautwein Herleth and the Austrian cultural center Forum Stadtpark under the title Against War; protesters said the gallery deliberately chose a different title to avoid references to the war in Gaza.
The demonstrators also claim that Greene Naftali opted not to include a shirt referencing Palestine featured in an art installation by Farocki titled “The Activist’s Wardrobe.” A screenshot posted to Instagram by the cultural activism account Decentralize Culture shows that a t-shirt with the text “Palestine / Just Do It” flanking a green Nike swoosh was shown in the Berlin iteration of the exhibition, but appears to be absent from Greene Naftali’s display. It is unclear whether it was included in the Austrian iteration.
Tuesday’s action began shortly after 7pm during a discussion between Alter and art historian Noam Elcott. Videos posted yesterday by Decentralize Culture showed activists standing in front of event attendees while holding massive white sheets that read “NO TO ARTWASHING,” “GREENE NAFTALI: FOR WAR?” and “THIS INSTITUTION SUPPORTS GENOCIDE.”
“I think it’s disgusting to depoliticize the work here and to ignore the fact that the exhibition was called Against War,” one activist is heard saying to the crowd in the video. “You’re not talking about the current war that would contextualize the work for the current day … The gallery should be disgusted, too.”
Alter, whose latest book delves into Farocki’s use of experimental film, video installations, and art criticism, told Hyperallergic that she disagreed with protesters’ characterizations.
“As I recall the conversation, Noam Elcott and I discussed how Harun Farocki integrated his political and artistic practice thoroughly, from his early allegiance to agit-prop filmmaking to his counter-hegemonic pedagogical tactics to his politicized television and print media critiques,” Alter said.
The demonstration ended around 8pm, participants in the action said. A video from activists showed four officers entering the gallery building after the protesters had exited, though it is not clear who summoned the police. The gallery declined to comment on the matter to Hyperallergic, and the New York City Police Department has not yet responded to inquiries. No arrests were made.
“I appreciate that the protesters were respectful in expressing their views,” Elcott told Hyperallergic, adding that “to be certain: The political implications of Farocki’s work were raised at nearly every juncture of the discussion.”
“Had the protesters stuck around for the Q&A and posed questions, I believe that compelling intellectual and ethical exchanges would have been possible. I regret we did not have the opportunity for that exchange,” Elcott said.
Demonstrators are demanding the gallery change the exhibition title back to Against War and exhibit the t-shirt with a new run date extending past the show’s August 16 conclusion, according to fliers they distributed at the action.
“Greene Naftali prefers to stand on the wrong side of history alongside their patrons, dismantling the anti-imperialist power of Farocki’s work rather than acknowledging the ongoing genocide of Palestinians,” the group told Hyperallergic in a collective statement. “We are committed to disrupting any institution, event or exhibition that doesn’t stand for a Free Palestine.
