The people of the United States have reacted to Trump's reign of the White House in a myriad of ways. But leave it up to the folks of the art world to get creative with the task. Here's a list of 40 responses to the Trump administration—big and small, individual and institutional, somber and funny—made by artists and art institutions in the U.S.
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· #J20 Art Strike—A call for the world to strike and close their doors on the day of Trump's innauguration (January 20th) in protest and solidarity, the #J20 Art Strike had an impressive line-up of participants including Mana Contemporary, Queens Museum, New Museum, The Whitney Museum, and Eyebeam among countless others throughout the country.
· Occupy Museums—While the initiative was incubated within the first month of the Occupy Wallstreet movement, the organization dedicated to dismantling the narrative and power of the 1% within cultural institutions has been hosting protests—most notably their demand that MoMa kick Trump advisor Larry Fink of its board back in February.
· Dear Ivanka protest in NYC—200 artists, curators, writers and art workers gathered in front of the art-collecting daughter of the POTUS' SoHo apartment as a plea to her humanity.
· a public Dropbox—Made by artist siblings Olivia and Brandon Locher, this archive shows 45 protest posters.
· HyperAllergic's Drawing in a Time of Fear and Lies—This ongoing series features artists reflecting on our current administration through the medium of drawing.
· Pussyhat Project—Many archers at the 2017 global Women's March wore home-made pink crocheted hats in order to create a collective visual statement.
· Resist!—Produced by The New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly and her daughter, Nadja Spiegelman, Resist! is a Free monthly comics compilation where "women's voices will be heard."
· Post-Election at September Gallery, Hudson NY—Kristen Dodge and Kate Gilmore organized an exhibition involving over 170 women artists so that they could provide "a reason, space, and context for artists to respond to the current circumstances." Ten percent of its proceeds were donated to Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood and the Stanley B. Keith Social Justice Center.
· Fearless Girl—Created by Kristen Visbal and commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, Fearless Girl acts as an advertisement for an index fund made up of gender-diverse companies with majority female leadership. The bronze sculpture of a Latina girl looks up defiantly at Wall Street's famous Charging Bull statue.
· We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 at The Brooklyn Museum— "The first exhibition to highlight the voices and experienced of women of color—distinct from the primarily white, middle-class mainstream feminist movement—in order to reorient conversations around race, feminism, political action, art production and art history in this significant historical period."
· The Other Border Wall Proposalsby J.M. Design Studios—The Pittsburgh based design studio submitted six original concepts to the Department of Homeland Security's "Other Border Wall" request for qualifications. Designs include a wall of hammocks, a lighthouse wall, a drinkable wall, and a far more somber memorial wall made up of gravestones commemorating those who died crossing borders in their quest for survival.
· The Most Beautiful Wallby Maddy Kramer—The artist created a scrolling virtual wall featuring artworks made and submitted by immigrants.
·All About Art: Art and Immigration—A discussion at the Museum of Latin American Art on June 2nd.
· Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA at LACMA—"A far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA takes place from September 2017 through January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California, from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, and from San Diego to Santa Barbara."
· Once Upon a Place in Times Square—An interactive public art installation created by Times Square Arts and artist Aman Mojadidi invited visitors to repurposed telephone booths where they could pick up the receiver and listen to oral histories of immigration told by recent immigrants living throughout the five boroughs.
· Flowers for Immigration—Ina project started by Lizania Cruz, immigrant florists create flower arrangements for Donald Trump, which Lizania then photographs and accompanies with the immigration story of the arranger along with their hopes and wishes for their futures in America and for the president.
· August 19, 2017—17 members (all but one) of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned, publishing a letter condemning Trump's "hateful rhetoric" after the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.
· August 13, 2017—Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, KY called for review of all public art that potentially honors bigotry, racism, or slavery. He announced this decision the day after violence erupted in Charlottesville in order to foster community conversation. "I recognize that some people say all these monuments should be left alone, because they are part of our history, but we need to discuss and interpret our history from multiple perspectives and from different viewpoints. That's why a community conversation is crucial."
· Burn and Bury—John Sims revamped Burn and Buryat the N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, a project that confronts the legacy of American slavery by ceremoniously burning and burying of the flag across the United States on Memorial Day.
· These memes—In response to Trump's commemoration of Confederate monuments when he tweeted that "...the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!", the internet responded with a flood of memes using the quote to draw attention to humorous, strange, or downright ugly public sculpture.
· February 3, 2017—MoMa protested the travel ban by hanging work by artists from Muslim nations from their permanent collection.
· Iranian gallery Ag Galerie drops out of NYC photo fair in light of travel ban—The AIPAD photo fair kept their gallery space empty in solidarity.
· Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery hung a portrait of 18th-Century Muslim American Yarrow Mamout—The hanging of this 1822 painting aimed to call attention to the fact that the United States has always been home to many faiths.
· Crossing the Line—CULTURUNNERS produced an ongoing video series for The Guardian called Crossing the Line. "Against the backdrop of the 2016 US Presidential elections, CULTURUNNERS began inviting artists to join them on the road and explore interconnected histories and common concerns between the United States and Middle East. Just as presidential contenders hit the campaign trail, CULTURUNNERS followed their ideological and geographical journeys, offering alternative perspectives on the issues being discussed."
· Artifax—A project that allows participants to fax your elected officials using artwork made by artists and graphic designers in order to protest Trump's proposed NEA budget cuts.
·Artists Rise Up protest in NYC—In protest of the Trump's proposed NEA budget cuts, a free-form gathering stood outside Lincoln Center.
· Martin Roth at the Austrian Cultural Forum, NYC—The artist planted a field of lavender nourished by Trump's tweets.
· Christo abandons his Over the River installation—The iconic land artist halted production on an artwork already two decades in the making that would have been his largest artwork in the United States to date. "Here now, the federal government is our landlord. They own the land," says Christo. "I can't do a project that benefits this landlord."
· Brian Whiteley's The Legacy Stone—A tombstone engraved with Donald Trump's name and the words "Made America Hate Again" mysteriously popped up in Central Park on Easter Sunday. While the work may appear to have violent connotations, the artist left out a date of expiration precisely because the piece is not intended as a death threat but as a sort of Scrooge-like ghost, warning the POTUS of his legacy and offering time to change. The stone has been taken down but is now available as an edition of 9.
· Awol Erizku's Make America Great Againshow at Ben Brown, London—In his first solo exhibition, the LA-based photographer of the famed pregnant Beyonce portrait offers a commentary on politics and power as well as identity and belonging in our current world order.
· BUFU and Yellow Jackets host a post-election safe space at the Brooklyn Museum—Queer femme arts collective BUFU (highlighting the "lived experiences of those who have been impacted politically and socially by white supremacy") and Yellow Jackets (a "queer/intersectional Yellow American collective collaborating towards radical futures that centralize marginalized bodies") held an event to process the collective grief into action after the results of the 2016 presidential election.
· Robin Bell of Bell Visuals—The design agency projected declarative protest statements and facts onto the faces of the Trump Hotel in Washington DC as well as other national monuments.
· Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collectionat the MoMa—According to the exhibition's press release, "the artists that make up this intergenerational selection address current anxiety and unrest around the world and offer critical reflections on our present moment."
· "Take a Trump!"—Courtesy of the anonymous artists collective Art Finksters, golden toilets popped up nationally.
· Trump doomsday billboard by Karen Fiorito in Phoenix, Arizona—The billboard dons an image where a menacing-looking Trump looks over the city of Phoenix, flanked by mushroom clouds and swastika dollar signs. Beatrice Moore, the owner of the billboard, says the apocalyptic work will be up for as long as Trump is president.
· Real Fake—Artist Scott Reederinstalled a sculpture via city-sanctioned public arts initiative in front of Trump Tower on Chicago's waterfront.
· Richard Prince—The famous artist disowned his work that was commissioned by Ivanka Trump, returning the $36,000 he made from the transaction.
· djtrump_artcritic—This Instagram account spews Trump-style art criticism in the form of POTUS tweets.
· Giant anthropomorphic inflatables—We talked to the man behind the giant inflatable Trumpy the Rat, but don't forget there's also the classic Trump chicken.
· Private by Alison Jackson—Jackson staged photoshoots involving a look-alike Trump in lewd, gross, or illegal acts, like throwing money at scantly clad women in the Oval Office, or attending a KKK rally.
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