Over 50 artists and performers have signed a letter calling on Judy Chicago to withdraw her exhibition on view at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as defined by a United Nations committee this month.
“Presenting art that speaks of social justice issues in a country that is in the midst of committing a genocide allows this country to build a facade of progressivism, and utilize your art and reputation to whitewash its crimes,” reads the letter, reviewed by Hyperallergic.
Many of the letter’s signatories are Israeli, including video artist Guy Ben-Ner, photographer Eldad Rafaeli, painter Yoram Kupermintz, and anti-war activist and music composer Ilan Volkov, who was recently arrested for protesting near the Gaza border.
Judy Chicago: What If Women Ruled the World? opened at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on September 18 and runs through December 27. The exhibition consists of a collaborative quilt composed of reflections written by women around the globe, co-created by Chicago and Pussy Riot founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova. The recent letter is addressed to both artists. Reached by email, Tolokonnikova told Hyperallergic that she worked with Chicago on the work a few years ago, but does not have “any control over ongoing logistics or where it is shown.”
“I agree with the artists who wrote the letter asking that the piece not be exhibited at the Tel Aviv Museum [of Art],” Tolokonnikova said. She said that she has not been in touch with the institution.
Chicago, through a representative, declined to comment for this story.
Artist Guy Ben-Ner told Hyperallergic that he signed the missive because he sees no other alternative to ending violence in Gaza than boycotting Israeli institutions.
“I always had a complicated relationship with boycotting,” said Ben-Ner, who is from Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. “I really don’t find pleasure in writing this, but to save Gaza (and Israel from itself), boycott Israel. Isolate it.”
Chicago and Tolokonnikova collaborated on the participatory quilt in 2022. The project solicits responses from women around the world to a series of questions about how they envision a woman-run world, such as “Would there be private property?” and “Would there be violence?” Chicago compiled a “digital thread” of responses into physical form, and that work has been displayed at the New Museum and other cultural institutions around the world.
The work also appeared last year at a Planned Parenthood event in Manhattan honoring the rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
A spokesperson for the Tel Aviv Museum told Hyperallergic that the quilt was loaned by the New York art technology cultural film DMINTI and not directly by the artists. It is unclear in what capacity the company loaned the work; DMINTI has not responded to a request for comment.
In a statement to Hyperallergic, Director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tania Coen-Uzzielli rejected calls for a cultural boycott.
“We too are horrified by the devastation and pain in Gaza, and we use our platform to call for the end of the war and shine a light on its toll,” Coen-Uzzielli said. “To cancel this project now would not be an act of solidarity, but of surrender. It would only strengthen the very structures of power, violence, and silencing. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is led by women and has consistently championed the work of women artists across generations, cultures, and identities, including Palestinian artists.”
Born in Russia and currently living in exile, Tolokonnikova has faced persecution for her long history of anti-authoritarian activism and served two years in a Russian prison for a punk art performance in an Orthodox Christian church in Moscow. She was arrested in absentia in 2023 and now lives in geographic anonymity.
A keystone of contemporary feminist art in the United States, Chicago drew wide acclaim for “The Dinner Party” (1974–79), a banquet installation with 39 vulvar placemats set for historical women, currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum. She founded the Feminist Art Program at Fresno State College in 1970, which later expanded to the California Institute of the Arts. Chicago has faced criticism for what some say is an exclusionary notion of feminism.
The authors of the letter calling for the exhibition’s withdrawal highlight Chicago and Tolokonnikova’s history of centering women’s experiences and urge them to consider the women who have been killed in Gaza, among them artists Heba Zagout and Amna Al-Salmi.
“We believe that Israel’s actions are in violation of the vision of the world that you promote through your art, and ask that you do not use your names and reputations to support those actions,” the letter reads.
