Decolonial Jewish Practice in Art and Visual Culture After Gaza

In the wake of Gaza, what is the decolonial task for artists, art historians, museum professionals, and visual culture scholars identified as Jewish? Amidst varied forms of censorship, exhibits have been canceled, artists have withdrawn their work from other shows, while the future of Documenta appears in doubt. People of Jewish descent in support of the movement to decolonize the arts and universities in general, and of Palestine in particular, have felt "hailed" as Jews differently, or even for the first time. This roundtable will ask what is to be done in the light of this new "naming," in whose wake violence and censorship have been and are being carried out. Given the long-range consequences of the present crisis and the abetting role of the mobilization of accusations of antisemitism, these questions will remain front center, perhaps especially for those who have felt comfortable as secular and/or intellectually Jewish, or not Jewish at all in their practice. What does decolonial Jewish work in art and visual culture look like now, from intellectual and political affiliation, to artistic and museum practices? Considering the student solidarity encampments and global uprising in solidarity with Palestine, how can the widely-shared rhetoric of decolonization in the university, especially since South African students took down the Rhodes statue in 2015 and issued the call to "decolonize the curriculum," now be implemented, revised or reconfigured in ways that also confront the weaponization of accusations of antisemitism? Contributions are invited from those who share these questions and concerns.