Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Emily Roysdon

To Whom it may concern,

The Warehouse Gallery has become an important venue in the recent past and this is in large part due to Astria Suparak's great mind. She was an excellent choice for you to hire, to put your gallery and institution on the cultural map, and it is a severe disservice to all that her firing is overshadowing the potential she initiated. Astria is a powerful ethical eloquent curator with great vision. She is also a woman and a feminist and has been on the front lines of contemporary art for a decade. Your dismissal of her and her programming reveals the weakness of your institution's vision and will damage your reputation for decades.

I believe you should make restitution with Astria.
Apologize to her, beg her to come back. Re-instate her excellent calendar of events and exhibitions. Write to newspapers and admit that you were wrong. Make a scholarship at your university for a brilliant undergraduate female art student to follow in her footsteps. And do it soon, as the whole of the art world is taking notice and your time is running out.

Sincerely,

Emily Roysdon

artist, co-founder and editor LTTR

Posted by CNXY at 5:26 PM

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BACKGROUND

Syracuse has lost one its greatest assets. Astria Suparak, Inaugural Director of The Warehouse Gallery of Syracuse University, was removed from her position as of Sept. 30th, 2007, despite widespread support from community members, students, faculty, and the international art community. This decision was made unilaterally by Jeffrey Hoone, Executive Director of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers (CMAC).

At the time of Suparak's dismissal, Hoone also canceled her forthcoming exhibitions, including "Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men," due to open in November 2007.