12 May 16-22, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | Culture | Night+Day | News | Letters | coNteNts | BRUNCH, LUNCH, DINNER & HAPPY HOUR 3201 RICKENBACKER CAUSEWAY KEY BISCAYNE, FL | 305.361.3818 WWW.THERUSTYPELICAN.COM BE SOCIAL WITH US! FIND US ON “BEST WATERFRONT DINING IN MIAMI ” were forcefully displaced from their ances- tral homeland due to American intervention in the region. The Vietnam War triggered protests that mirror today’s protests against the war on Gaza. Miami, which Vu also con- siders home, was represented in the re- moved artwork by a photograph of the Atlantic Ocean. Vu’s artwork references wa- ter as a site of struggle for all oppressed peoples. The work invokes the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ as a reminder to viewers that water is a precious, borderless resource that connects us all.” Staff Hits Reply-All On Thursday, May 9, six Oolite staffers en- tered the fray via an internal email in support of Vu, accusing the board of “a significant abuse of power.” “The decision to sanitize, erase, and cen- sor Vu’s work is reflective of the glaring im- balance of power between the board chair and executive committee members and Oo- lite staff and the artists we claim to support,” that missive reads in part. “The board chair and executive committee members have cho- sen to alienate the artists that it claims to serve while sitting on a $100 million endow- ment that came from the sale of a building that was historically funded by the artists of the organization.” The letter continues, “The expectation that we, as staff, should be silent and com- plicit with regard to the board’s censorship of Vu is insulting and a disservice to the work that we do to garner trust from the artists in the community.” The letter demands a public statement “acknowledging the removal of Vu’s work,” a public apology to the artist and monetary compensation, creation of an advisory com- mittee of current and former Oolite staff and resident artists, and external counsel to inves- tigate the incident. In a statement sent to New Times just prior to publication, Oolite Arts’ board of trustees acknowledged the controversy, writing that it “deeply regrets that the removal of Vu Hoàng Khánh Nguyên’s artwork has offended some in our community, and that its contents of- fended others in our community. We believe strongly in the right to artistic expression, but the particular phrase highlighted in this piece is perceived by many as a literal call for vio- lence against them.” The statement also expresses regret that the board did not take more time to discuss the decision with its artists and staff. Moving forward, the trustees vow to evaluate Oolite’s decision-making process and institute clear guidelines for artists. The Conflict So Far The controversy over Vu’s work is transpir- ing against the backdrop of a desperate hour in the ongoing war in Gaza, in which more than 35,000 Palestinians have perished, ac- cording to the most recent tallies. As the Is- raeli military prepares to assault Rafah, the last place of refuge for millions of Gazans who’ve already fled the carnage in the north of the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a ceasefire agree- ment brokered by Egypt and Qatar and agreed to by Hamas. On this side of the Atlantic, Israel’s actions have seemingly reached a tipping point: Pres- ident Joe Biden, who has been staunch in his support for Israel, declared on Thursday that the U.S. would withhold weapons shipments to Israel in the event of an attack on Rafah. Meanwhile, protesters on college campuses across America demanding their universities divest from Israel have faced increasingly vio- lent police crackdowns. On those campuses and elsewhere, debate continues to rage over the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which reportedly dates back to 1964. In its original context, the slogan — promoted by the Pales- tinian Liberation Organization, which now represents the Palestinian people at the United Nations — called for a secular, demo- cratic Palestinian state in the area that en- compasses the territory claimed by both the Israeli and Palestinian states, spanning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Some organizations view the phrase as anti- semitic, including the Anti-Defamation League, which de- scribes it as a call for the “removal of Jews from their an- cestral homeland.” Companies, includ- ing Meta, which owns the social me- dia sites Facebook and Instagram, are considering whether the phrase constitutes hate speech. In April, a resolution condemning the phrase, sponsored by Re- publican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York, was passed in the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives. The Oolite incident mirrors a similar case that unfolded at ICA Miami in March, when a portrait of Palestinian-American scholar Ed- ward Said by artist Charles Gaines was re- moved at the urging of board members. The episode sparked outrage from activists and the artist himself, who, like Vu, reportedly was not consulted before the work was pulled from view. Oolite Arts was founded in 1984 as Art- Center/South Florida by ceramicist Ellie Schneiderman. In addition to supporting Miami artists through grants, residency op- portunities, and the annual Ellies awards, its current headquarters at 924 Lincoln Rd. in Miami Beach hosts exhibition spaces, stu- dios for resident artists, classrooms, and other programming. Many South Florida artists have benefitted from the organiza- tion’s programming, including Teresita Fer- nandez, Pepe Mar, Jillian Mayer, and Monica Sorelle. In 2019, the organization changed its name to Oolite Arts in a nod to the porous limestone bedrock that forms the Biscayne Aquifer underneath South Florida. In 2022, the organization announced it would move to a new $30 million purpose-built complex in Miami’s Little River neighborhood. Funds for the new facility, which is designed by the architecture firm Barozzi Veiga and slated to open in 2025, came from the $88 million sale of Oolite’s former headquarters at 200 Lin- coln Rd. to a local real estate developer in 2014, according to the Art Newspaper. [email protected] “THAT STATEMENT IS VIEWED BY SOME AS HATE SPEECH AND IT IS CONTRARY TO OUR DEI STATEMENT.” Room Without a Vu from p11 ˜
