Report about protests against science and natural history museums for working with climate science deniers, and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Produced for March 27, 2015, but can run for a few days after that. Info: newsroom.wgxc.org newsroom.free103point9.org
Protesting museums reached a critical mass this week, for two different reasons. First, three dozen scientists sent a letter to two science and natural history museums, and started a petition, calling on them to cut ties with the Koch brothers and anyone else with connections to the fossil fuel industry. The petition calls for David Koch to be taken off the boards of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The Koch brothers are billionaire donors to both musuems, and own Koch Industries with extensive fossil fuel holdings and have funded climate denial. There is currently a large protest movement to get companies, schools, and others, to divest fossil fuel funds, similar to the efforts in the 1980s to get companies to divest from investments in South Africa during the apartheid era. The scientists writing the letter say museums of science and natural history should not be associated with, âthose who profit from fossil fuels or fund lobby groups that misrepresent climate science,â according to The Washington Post. The campaign is backed by the new mobile Natural History Museum. At the same time, in the art world, voices are rising against the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and its Curator-at-Large Klaus Biesenbach. Earlier this week, Christian Viveros Faune at artnet News wrote a through account of the issue calling for the firing of Biesenbach. Heâs being criticized for celebrity exhibitions that are not art, most recently one celebrating the pop singer Bjork. That show was called out by prominent art critics as a âfiascoâ by Jerry Saltz, an âabominationâ by Deborah Solomon, and the show that turned âMoMA into Planet Hollywoodâ by Michael Miller. Others complain about Kraftwerkâs eight-gig show âRetrospective 12345678â³ in 2012, and the actress Tilda Swinton sleeping inside a glass box at MoMa, a rip-off of conceptual artist Chris Burdenâs 1972 âBed Piece.â And Biesenbach has organized only one solo show by a black artist at MoMA and MoMA PS1 since 1996. One anonymous source told artnet News, âLots of trustees are unhappy with Biesenbach right now, but breaking ranks is a big deal. Change will come about only when the trustees who are in dissent get enough ammo to make their will explicit.â
Museum Protests 20150327
Radio news about radio waves.
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March 27, 2015
Produced at Wave Farm/WGXC in the Hudson Valley, New York.
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