COURTESY ARTBOOK/D.A.P.
After reports this week that the Jewish Museum in New York had suspended Jens Hoffmann following accusations of sexual harassment, three editors of the Exhibitionist, a journal about curatorial practices that Hoffmann founded in 2009, have resigned. The announcement comes in the wake of several other institutions having made the decision to suspend Hoffmann, among them the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Kadist foundation, and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.
The group resignation was announced in a statement posted to the Facebook page of the Exhibitionist’s managing editor, Liz Rae Heise-Glass. The statement is bylined by Heise-Glass along with editor-at-large Piper Marshall and senior editor Julian Myers-Szupinska.
The statement follows below.
Following the allegations of harassment made against our founding editor Jens Hoffmann, we have chosen to resign our editorial roles at the Exhibitionist, effective immediately. In our view it would be incongruous to continue to commission, edit, and publish as normal in these circumstances. We wish to make clear that we do not condone sexual harassment, intimidation, or abuse in any context, and that we support those who are coming forward in this profound moment of reckoning.
In parting, we also wish to affirm the work that has been done in the pages of the Exhibitionist since it was founded in 2009. A journal, no less than an exhibition, is a collective and social affair, and exceeds the effort of any one person. It is most of all the manifestation of those who have written for it, many of whom are friends, colleagues and role models. We are humbled that they entrusted us with their ideas. We also recognize our brilliant designer, Jon Sueda, our magnificent copy editor, Lindsey Westbrook, and the journal’s past editors, Tara McDowell, Chelsea Haines, and Lumi Tan.
We believe that the Exhibitionist has served a vital purpose, and hope that its legacy will lie in the important writing and thinking it has made public.
Looking forward,
Liz Rae Heise-Glass
Piper Marshall
Julian Myers-Szupinska