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Sam Durant sculpture at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN

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Sam Durant sculpture at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN

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Sam Durant's sculpture Scaffold (2012) will be removed from the Walker Art Center's garden and ceremonially burned by local Native American leaders in Minnesota. The decision follows a rising chorus of protests by members of the Dakota community and their supporters, who say the work trivializes a traumatizing chapter in the community's history.

The composite structure was one of 16 planned additions to the Minneapolis institution's sculpture garden. It draws on the gallows built for seven major executions in US history, including the largest mass execution ever to take place in the US, which killed 38 Dakota Indians in 1862 in nearby Mankato, Minnesota.

The decision to destroy the work was announced after a three-hour mediation session attended by the artist, representatives from the Dakota Spiritual and Traditional Elders, the four federally recognized Dakota tribes, the Walker, and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. (The meeting was facilitated by Stephanie Hope Smith, a Minnesota registered neutral mediator who specializes in sacred sites.)

In a joint statement following the mediation session and a press conference today, the parties laid out a plan for the sculpture's removal and ceremonial burning. A native construction company will be tasked with dismantling the piece, beginning Friday, June 2, in a ceremony overseen by Dakota Spiritual and Traditional Elders. The process is expected to take around four days.

The construction company is donating its services, and in exchange, the Walker will donate an equivalent amount to pay for elders to travel to the ceremony. The wood will be burned at Fort Snelling, where Dakotas were imprisoned following the 1862 US-Dakota War. As part of the final agreement, the museum and artist pledged never to reconstruct the work.

"I just wanted to apologize for the trauma, the suffering that my work has caused in the community," the Los Angeles-based artist Durant said at the press conference, calling the resolution "hopefully a path for healing."

The sculpture was first shown at documenta 13 in Kassel in 2012 and acquired by the museum in 2015. It was going to be shown publicly in the US for the first time as part of the Walker's current renovation and expansion project.

"This is the first step for the Walker... to rebuild trust with the Dakota and native communities throughout Minnesota," the museum's executive director Olga Viso said at the press conference. "There's no question that the Walker's process in placing this structure in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was flawed, and I apologize that we were not sufficiently... sympathetic to the pain and suffering that it would elicit."

"This way forward that we've come to together allows for the work's evolution, indeed its transformation, from one kind of platform to another one that's related to oral history and archive rather than physical structure," Viso added.

The decision to destroy the sculpture comes amid heightened discussion about who can and should make art about historical trauma and if and how institutions can responsibly present that work. The controversy over the sculpture by Durant, who is white, follows an uproar over the inclusion of Dana Schutz's painting of Emmett Till in this year's Whitney Biennial.

At the press conference, Lower Sioux elder Sheldon Wolfchild said, "How can a scaffold be erected without responding to our elders? It was beyond our comprehension that this could happen." He blamed the education system for not teaching students the full story of the horrors of the US-Dakota War, and noted that the gallows were a horrifying symbol for a community whose children have the highest suicide rate in the country.

Toward the end of the press conference, Viso stressed that the museum selects and acquires works for the sculpture garden without any oversight or approval from the city's parks department. A representative from the parks department suggested that this arrangement would likely change in the wake of the controversy. The sculpture garden's opening has been postponed to June 10.

The sculpture began drawing protests from the Native American community last last week, after Viso posted a letter on the Walker's website expressing regret for not previously engaging the elders in a discussion about the work. The state's Dakota nations offered a joint statement expressing their disappointment in the sculpture's exploitation of the execution. "This is a painful part of our history for the Dakota people... not something something to depicted in a sculpture garden with a giant rooster or a spoon with a cherry," they wrote (a reference to other, more lighthearted works on view in the garden).

After participating in the joint mediation session, Durant said he had developed a new understanding of the considerable sensitivity surrounding the mass killing. "I never would have included the Mankato gallows in such a piece," he said. "I don't know if the piece would have been constructed in a different way; that's possible."

"As an artist going forward, I've learned that i need to do much more education, be much more proactive about making clear what I want viewers to think about it," he added. "Difficult art that doesn't tell you what to think about it is a real challenge."

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Walker Art Center's Gallows Sculpture to Be Removed and Burned | artnet News

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Sam Durant's sculpture Scaffold (2012) will be removed from the Walker Art Center's garden and ceremonially burned by local Native American leaders in Minnesota. The decision follows a rising chorus of protests by members of the Dakota community and their supporters, who say the work trivializes a traumatizing chapter in the community's history.

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Dana Shutz painting of Emmett Till in 2017 Whitney Biennial

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Dana Shutz painting of Emmett Till in 2017 Whitney Biennial

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When American artist Dana Schutz decided to paint the mutilated face of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was tortured and lynched by two white men in 1955, she said she intended to convey the universal horror of the murder and acknowledge the country's lingering racism.

But her painting, "Open Casket," currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of the museum's 2017 biennial exhibition, has drawn swift condemnation and protest from a growing number of artists and observers, who say that the painting by a white artist represents nothing more than the exploitation of an excruciating and defining moment in African American history.

Schutz addressed the mounting controversy in an interview Thursday with Artnet news, acknowledging that "it's a problematic painting and I knew that getting into it."

The artist, born in 1976, made the work in response to a slew of shootings of black men by police during the summer of 2016, she said. "The photograph of Emmett Till felt analogous to the time," she said. "What was hidden was now revealed."

Emmett was kidnapped and killed after a white cashier falsely accused him of flirting with her (decades later, she recanted her claim). His death, and his mother's decision to leave his horrifically disfigured face exposed at his funeral, was a powerful catalyst for the civil rights movement.

[Finally we hear from the white woman who drew Emmett Till's wolf-whistle]

And that history simply doesn't belong to Schutz, said British-born black artist Hannah Black in an emphatic open letter to the Whitney biennial's curators, Mia Locks and Christopher Y. Lew. The letter, co-signed by more than 25 artists of color, argues that the painting should not only be removed from the exhibition, but destroyed.

"The painting should not be acceptable to anyone who cares or pretends to care about black people, because it is not acceptable for a white person to transmute black suffering into profit and fun, though the practice has been normalized for a long time," Black wrote.

Since the biennial's public opening Friday, a small group of protesters led by African American artist Parker Bright have stationed themselves in front of the painting to partially block it from view. Bright, who wore a T-shirt printed with the words "Black Death Spectacle" on the back, spoke with museum visitors about the controversial work and made a Facebook Live video of his protest.

"I believe that this piece is an injustice to the black community," he said in the video. "[Schutz] doesn't have the privilege to speak for black people as a whole, or for Emmett Till's family."

At the Whitney, a protest against Dana Schutz' painting of Emmett Till: "She has nothing to say to the Black community about Black trauma." pic.twitter.com/C6x1JcbwRa

- Scott W. H. Young (@hei_scott) March 17, 2017

He also objected to the painting's potential financial benefit to the artist: "Nobody should be making money off of a black dead body," he said. "That's what I feel."

In a statement provided by the Whitney, Schutz insisted that she had no such intentions. "I made this painting to engage with the loss," she said. "It was never for sale and never will be."

In an odd twist, an email from a person who claimed to be Schutz was sent to several publications Thursday - but the message, which said that Schutz had decided the painting should be removed from the exhibition, was actually a fraud, the Whitney confirmed.

An email letter purportedly written by the artist Dana Schutz and circulated to the media is a hoax.

- Whitney Museum (@whitneymuseum) March 23, 2017

In a statement, the biennial's curators stood by Schutz's work:

"The 2017 Whitney Biennial brings to light many facets of the human experience, including conditions that are painful or difficult to confront such as violence, racism, and death. Many artists in the exhibition push in on these issues, seeking empathetic connections in an especially divisive time. Dana Schutz's painting, Open Casket (2016), is an unsettling image that speaks to the long-standing violence that has been inflicted upon African Americans. For many African Americans in particular, this image has tremendous emotional resonance. By exhibiting the painting, we wanted to acknowledge the importance of this extremely consequential and solemn image in American and African American history and the history of race relations in this country. As curators of this exhibition we believe in providing a museum platform for artists to explore these critical issues."

Schutz has not requested that the work be removed, the Whitney confirmed. In the prepared statement, she acknowledged again that the painting's subject matter is fraught.

"I did not know if I could make this painting, ethically or emotionally," she said. "I don't know what it is like to be black in America. But I do know what it is like to be a mother. Emmett was Mamie Till's only son. I thought about the possibility of painting it only after listening to interviews with her. In her sorrow and rage she wanted her son's death not just to be her pain but America's pain."

[Whitney Biennial curator: 'Issues of the day' dominate exhibit]

Regardless of Schutz's good intentions in creating the work, Black argued in her letter to the museum, the artist and the exhibition's curators should listen to the resulting outcry.

"Even if Schutz has not been gifted with any real sensitivity to history, if black people are telling her that the painting has caused unnecessary hurt, she and you must accept the truth of this," Black said in her letter.

Their anger did make an impression on Schutz, she told Artnet. Asked if the vehement response to her work would change her practice going forward, she answered simply, "I'm sure it has to."

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whitney museum of art; emmett till; painting; open casket; dana schutz; race; african american history; art; exploitation; exhibition; whitney biennial

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A white artist responds to the outcry over her controversial Emmett Till painting

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When American artist Dana Schutz decided to paint the mutilated face of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was tortured and lynched by two white men in 1955, she said she intended to convey the universal horror of the murder and acknowledge the country's lingering racism.

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Rise of Alt-Right, false binary with 'Alt-Left' (Milos Yannopoulis); Clashes at universities

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Rise of Alt-Right, false binary with 'Alt-Left' (Milos Yannopoulis); Clashes at universities

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Surge in deportations and overreach by ICE to find and deport undocumented people

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Surge in deportations and overreach by ICE to find and deport undocumented people

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Escalation of violence/opposition in public rallies (Antifa, overt racism, acceptance of hate)

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Escalation of violence/opposition in public rallies (Antifa, overt racism, acceptance of hate)

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Wage gap  - for women and people of color in US

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Wage gap  - for women and people of color in US

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North Korea nuclear escalation; representation of communist countries

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North Korea nuclear escalation; representation of communist countries

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Natural disasters and differentiation in responses based on race/class/community demographics

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Natural disasters and differentiation in responses based on race/class/community demographics

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Trans bathroom access/legality for students in schools

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Trans bathroom access/legality for students in schools

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Title 9 revocation/DeVos policies for campus rape

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Title 9 revocation/DeVos policies for campus rape

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Lack of laws/enforcement against rape in India

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Lack of laws/enforcement against rape in India

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Latin American byline against women's rights

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Latin American byline against women's rights

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School to prison pipeline (Anna Deveare Smith)

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School to prison pipeline (Anna Deveare Smith)

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Push to close Rikers Island in NYC, solitary confinement/prison abuses

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Push to close Rikers Island in NYC, solitary confinement/prison abuses

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Colin Kapernick national anthem protest, black balled by NFL? Boycott of NFL? Power of athletic culture in US

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Colin Kapernick national anthem protest, black balled by NFL? Boycott of NFL? Power of athletic culture in US

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references to Muhammad Ali and Black Power symbol at Olympics

http://www.bet.com/news/sports/2017/09/12/lions-fans.html

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Ban on Transgender serving in the armed forces

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Ban on Transgender serving in the armed forces

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Charlottesville, VA white nationalist rally, August 2017

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Charlottesville, VA white nationalist rally, August 2017

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Since a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, news developments have continued at a torrid pace.

If you are just catching up on the aftermath of the weekend's events, or are overwhelmed by the volume of news, here is an overview of The New York Times's coverage.

A tepid White House response

On Saturday afternoon, President Trump met criticism for condemning the "egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides" without singling out white nationalists or neo-Nazis.

On Monday, Mr. Trump declared, "Racism is evil," adding that "those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

But one day later, he doubled down on his initial response, declaring furiously at a news conference on Tuesday: "You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I'll say it right now."

Mr. Trump's comments on Monday came after he mocked the head of Merck pharmaceuticals, who is black, for quitting the American Manufacturing Council in protest of Mr. Trump's response to the violence. Chief executives from Intel and Under Armour also resigned from the board; read their full statements here. A fourth board member, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, stepped down on Tuesday.

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A car struck another vehicle near a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a 32-year-old woman, Heather D. Heyer. Credit Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress, via Associated Press

Police officers in riot gear mobilized around a statue of Robert E. Lee that Charlottesville officials plan to remove. Credit Steve Helber/Associated Press

What happened on Saturday

White nationalists gathered on Saturday for a "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville. Around 1:45 p.m., a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters and another car.

One person was killed: Heather D. Heyer, 32, a paralegal from Charlottesville who "was a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised and was often moved to tears by the world's injustices." Read The Times's profile of Ms. Heyer, and an article about the counterprotesters.

Two state troopers also died on Saturday. Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates were in a helicopter monitoring the demonstrations, when the helicopter fell and burst into flames.

In total, at least 34 people were wounded in the clashes.

The driver of the car was James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio, a city near Toledo, officials said. He faces an array of charges, including a count of second-degree murder. On Monday, a judge denied Mr. Fields bail and said he would appoint a lawyer for him. Here is what we know about Mr. Fields; a Times reporter responded to reader questions about why The Times would profile him.

The background to the violence

Nominally, the rally on Saturday was organized in opposition to a plan by local officials to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's top general, from Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. That plan prompted a similar protest in May, led by the white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, as well as a Ku Klux Klan rally in July. The removal of Confederate monuments has also stirred up anger in cities like New Orleans, and officials in several states are now making similar efforts. On Monday evening, protesters in Durham, N.C., toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier.

However, the forces behind the rally run much deeper than the removal of statues. Right-wing extremism, including white nationalism and white supremacy, is on the rise, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. And a string of killings in recent months raised the specter of far-right violence well before last weekend.

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A Guide to the Charlottesville Aftermath

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Since a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, news developments have continued at a torrid pace. If you are just catching up on the aftermath of the weekend's events, or are overwhelmed by the volume of news, here is an overview of The New York Times's coverage.