The Whitney Museum has canceled an exhibition centering the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19 after the public learned that the museum had acquired artworks from predominantly Black artists without permission, and at a discounted price.

Many of the prints, photographs, posters, and digital files intended for Collective Actions: Artist Interventions in a Time of Change (cached site here) were purchased directly from the See in Black print sale—a photography fundraiser for Black mutual aid organizations—but the artists claim that none of them were properly consulted or paid.

On Tuesday morning, Whitney director of research resources Farris Wahbeh told the unknowing contributors via email that the museum had purchased their work for its special collections, an archive that stands separate from its permanent collection. In the email, Wahbeh detailed the hasty organizing process, requested the artists’ personal information, and offered them lifetime museum passes in exchange. The exhibition was scheduled for September 17 to January 3, 2021, meaning the artists were notified just weeks before the planned opening.

“The majority of the works in Collective Actions were initiated by artist collectives to raise funds for anti-racist initiatives, including criminal justice reform, bail funds, Black trans advocacy groups, and other mutual aid work,” a now-defunct show description read on the museum’s website. “All of these projects were organized quickly and collaboratively using real-time, online networks to mobilize art as a form of activism. The Whitney acquired the works on view as the projects were launched and distributed.”

See in Black first formed in response to this year’s police killings, and the collective hosted its debut print sale from Juneteenth (June 19) through July 3, 2020. Each piece was priced at $100 as an incentive for individuals—not deep-pocketed institutions—to purchase affordable art. The Whitney’s actions now bring into question how a multi-million-dollar cultural institution could appropriate contemporary artworks without the artists’ approval, leading prominent Black critics to speculate on unrestrained inequity within the art market.

“If you are an artist in this show what you should do is organize against it,” art critic Antwaun Sargent declared on Twitter, sparking widespread public outrage against the exhibition within hours of its announcement. Sargent went on to argue that the museum did not pay market price for the pieces or publish the names of featured artists.

this is why you shouldn’t be out here selling your images for $100 because a major museum will “acquire” your art through and stage an exhibition: pic.twitter.com/XFZvI6hYoA — Antwaun Sargent () August 25, 2020

A leaked artist list details the 79 artists and collectives whose works were acquired for the show, including college students and up-and-coming artists who submitted to the artist-driven print fundraiser Poetry for Persistence, hosted over the summer by Printed Matter and Press Press.

Sargent also noted that the museum’s acquisition process usually takes multiple months pending the deliberation of a committee, but the Whitney can technically skip that step when curating something timely by classifying artworks as “ephemera” in its special collections. The museum therefore bypassed its own protocols, mislabeled the works in its archives, and undermined See in Black’s mission to invest materially in Black communities.

“The Whitney’s use of the works acquired through the See in Black print sale at significantly discounted prices — the proceeds of which were donated 100% to charity — constitutes unauthorized use of the works to which the artists do not consent and for which the artists were not compensated,” the collective wrote in a statement. “Furthermore, See in Black is not affiliated with the Whitney’s exhibition.”

Several associated artists, including photographer Gioncarlo Valentine, took to social media to publicize their frustration and criticize Wahbeh’s methods.

“This man was following me, not engaging [with] my work, not asking me shit, and ‘acquired’ a print that I did not sign or make, meant to raise money,” Valentine wrote in a tweet thread that included a screenshot of Wahbeh’s original email.

“Jumping through cheap loopholes puts a block on the mutual aid we can develop and contribute to as artists,” photographer Texas Isaiah tweeted. “Whitney could have reached out to us, asked to acquire, and PAY full price for our work.”

Isaiah also told ArtNews, "It’s perplexing to think that a multi-million dollar museum went around to buy works for $100, some unsigned, untitled, and not dated for their collections. It is predatory, condescending, and irresponsible."

The museum announced its preemptive closing of the exhibition shortly after See in Black issued its public statement. Wahbeh then issued an apology letter to the artists, claiming the show was meant to be an immediate record of current events.

“Going forward, we will study and consider further how we can better collect and exhibit artworks and related material that are made and distributed through these channels,” Wahbeh wrote. “I understand how projects in the past several months have a special resonance and I sincerely want to extend my apologies for any pain that the exhibition has caused.”

The exhibition is canceled. Good. Now, the next step (for me, at least) is The Whitney removing my work from their special collections. I want them to destroy it. — Texas Isaiah not Texas () August 26, 2020

The museum has not yet responded to a request for comment. In the last year, the Whitney has been roiled in controversy over its association with Warren B. Kanders, a former board member whose company Safariland manufactured tear gas used by federal police and border patrol. The museum is one of many New York City cultural institutions to accept payment protection program (PPP) loans from the federal government, collecting between $5 and $10 million despite laying off 76 staff members in April. (Disclosure: New York Public Radio, the non-profit which owns Gothamist, received a PPP loan in May.)

As of October 2019, the Whitney stated they had $785 million in net assets.

The Whitney plans to reopen to the public on September 3 with new safety and health protocols based on city guidelines.

Source: Gothamist

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