Guggenheim Called Out By Curator For Blackout Post Hypocrisy

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The curator of last year's "Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story" exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum called the museum out this week and accused the institution of hypocrisy in declaring its solidarity with those protesting racial injustice across the United States.

Chaédria LaBouvier said in a Twitter post that The Guggenheim refused to acknowledge her as the museum's first black woman to curate an exhibit and excluded her from a panel discussing her exhibit last November.

"Get the entire f--- out of here. I am Chaédria LaBouvier, the first Black curator in your 80 year history & you refused to acknowledge that while also allowing Nancy Spector to host a panel about my work w/o inviting me," LaBouvier said in her post. "Erase this sh--."

LaBouvier was a vocal critic of The Guggenheim's "institutional white supremacy" last year when the museum organized a panel to discuss her Basquiat exhibit without inviting her to participate. Instead, the museum's white chief curator Nancy Spector spoke during the panel. LaBouvier protested the panel in November from the audience.

The Guggenheim joined many people, companies, brands and institutions in posting a message for Blackout Tuesday — a social media campaign organized to show support for those protesting police brutality and structural racism in the United States following the death of Minnesota man George Floyd. The campaign itself was criticized for drowning out important information tagged for Black Lives Matter protests with images of empty black squares.

The museum's post was not deleted on Tuesday. In a statement, a museum spokesperson said LaBouvier "was supported by the museum with the collaborative spirit with which exhibitions are made at the Guggenheim."

"Ms. La Bouvier was prominently credited within the exhibition and its related materials, including the catalogue, where she is listed on the cover as sole author. Despite her accusations, the museum credited her with being the first black female curator in the museum’s history," the statement reads.