Photo Caption: Flickr user Vincent Desjardins via Creative Commons license
UPDATE: 5/12/2023 – Following initial postponements, the Vkhutemas exhibition opened to the public from April 25 – May 5, 2023. Cooper Union stated that the postponement was necessary to develop and incorporate an expanded framework for the exhibition, along with additional contextual materials and relevant programming to better address the historical and political context of the Vkhutemas School.
2/27/2023 – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) continues to monitor the fate of the Cooper Union’s exhibition titled Vkhutemas: Laboratory of the Avant-Garde, 1920-1930. The project has been delayed multiple times since 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and allegations that the exhibition—featuring student research and projects about an architecture and design school—is pro-Russian propaganda. NCAC delivered a letter to Cooper Union earlier this month after learning that the Vkhutemas exhibition would be rescheduled in the late spring.
Although Cooper Union’s response to the controversy—engaging its surrounding community, arranging additional programming, and providing supplemental materials to frame the project—is appropriate and commendable, NCAC and the art community have yet to receive information from Cooper Union on when the Vkhutemas exhibition will occur.
Read NCAC’s full letter to The Cooper Union below, or click here for a full-screen view.