Michigan State University (MSU) is accused of censorship after abruptly canceling a large art event at the campus’s Broad Art Museum and altering the display of a Palestinian solidarity artwork in the exhibition Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People.
Meant to take place on Friday, September 13, the Broad’s Fall Opening Party was axed on the day of the event without notice. The party was meant to celebrate the opening of several exhibitions at the museum, including Diasporic Collage, Esmaa Mohamoud’s COMPLEX DREAMS, Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection, and Samia Halaby: Eye Witness.
Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College and a former MSU professor who co-curated Diasporic Collage with Dalina Perdomo Álvarez from MSU Broad and Windy M. Cosme Rosario from the University of Puerto Rico, told Hyperallergic that since the event cancellation, university administration moved Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid’s “Piquete en el capitolio” (2023) to a different wall, and added additional signage without her or her co-curators’ consent.
Figueroa-Vásquez and various curatorial team members and featured artists had already flown out to Michigan for the September 13 event, as did Palestinian-American abstract painter Samia Halaby, whose career-spanning retrospective is on view at the museum until December.
Halaby, whose earlier retrospective at the Indiana University at Bloomington’s Eskenazi Museum was canceled a month before its February opening date due to “safety concerns,” told Hyperallergic that she was not directly informed of the Fall Opening Party cancellation, but rather found out through MSU Broad’s post on Instagram and was later told that it was a result of “capacity problems.” On a similar note, Figueroa-Vásquez mentioned that she learned of the cancellation via email upon touching down in Detroit, and that it had been attributed to “staffing issues.”
Figueroa-Vásquez addressed the matter in a thread on X, calling the decision to cancel the event “one of the most cowardly acts to date.”
Farid’s contested piece in question, “Piquete en el capitolio,” features a large-scale reproduction of a 1973 photo published in El Mundo of Arab refugees protesting the oil crisis and United States military aid to Israel in a demonstration outside of the capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. According to Figueroa-Vásquez, Farid’s work had actually been acquired by MSU Broad’s collections on October 3, 2023, and its inclusion in the exhibition was unquestioned until March of this year, but it was ultimately greenlit. (Hyperallergic has reached out to Farid for comment.)
However, things changed this morning, September 18, when university administration informed Figueroa-Vásquez and Perdomo Álvarez that Farid’s piece would be moved to a different wall and accompanied by additional signage addressing its relationship to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Both curators were under the impression that they would have time to re-curate Farid’s work and write their own accompanying signage, only to learn that the university had already moved the piece to a less visible wall and added a trigger warning noting that some protest signs featured in the exhibition include “controversial content.”
In response to Hyperallergic‘s inquiries, a representative for the university shared the following statement:
“Last week, the decision was made to cancel the MSU Broad Art Museum’s opening event, instead shifting it to a private tour for the artists and their guests, in order to give the university time to adequately review concerns that were raised about a specific piece of art included in the Diasporic Collage exhibit. The art is continuing in the display, and additional contextual explanations of the art are being added. As a university community that brings together students, faculty, and staff of many different cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds, our priority is to create an environment that feels inclusive and respectful to all.”
Earlier today, Figueroa-Vásquez issued a public statement on her website demanding answers and reimbursements for event-related costs from MSU. “We were lied to when we were told that the cancellation of the event was not about the content of any of the exhibitions,” she wrote in the missive.
She also rebuked the university’s unilateral curatorial alterations, writing that “forcing the rearrangement of the exhibit is an act of censorship of the professional work of the curator,” and that “the sign placed at the entrance of the gallery is irresponsible and reductive in its framing of the exhibit and the piece based on a 51-year old image.”
In another statement to Hyperallergic, MSU expressed regret for how it handled this crisis.
“The university realizes the decision to alter the exhibition happened quickly and conversations are ongoing,” the statement reads. “We regret the impact this has had on all involved. We are committed to engaging in ongoing dialogue around these exhibitions and works in alignment with the university’s core values and mission. We value the museum as a crucial point of artistic expression and community dialogue.”
The university’s curatorial constraints allegedly extend beyond Diasporic Collages, as Halaby told Hyperallergic that her retrospective was only allowed after she agreed to remove works that referenced Palestine in either their titles or subject matter. “Some things were censored,” Halaby said.
MSU Broad and Eye Witness curator Rachel Winter have not yet responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment on Halaby’s claims. The university’s spokesperson said the event cancellation was “not related to Samia Halaby’s exhibition.”
