Artforum Editor Fired After Publishing Call for Cease-fire Signed by Thousands

David Velasco. Photo: Pietro S. D’Aprano/Getty Images

David Velasco, editor-in-chief of the art magazine Artforum, was fired on October 26 after publishing an open letter signed by thousands of artists who “support Palestinian liberation and call for an end to the killing and harming of all civilians, an immediate cease-fire, the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the end of the complicity of our governing bodies in grave human-rights violations and war crimes.” Velasco was at the magazine for 18 years and was editor-in-chief for six. “I have no regrets,” he said in a statement to the New York Times. “I’m disappointed that a magazine that has always stood for freedom of speech and the voices of artists has bent to outside pressure.” He later added in a statement to The Intercept, “I have done nothing but exceptional work at the magazine for 18 years and this is a sad day. It breaks my heart.”

The Intercept reported that Velasco was brought into the office of Jay Penske, who oversees Penske Media, the parent company of Artforum, on the 26th. By the end of the day, Velasco had been fired. That evening, Artforum ran a note by publishers Danielle McConnell and Kate Koza in response to the letter. “On Thursday, October 19, an open letter regarding the crisis in the Middle East was shared on Artforum’s website and social platforms without our, or the requisite senior members of the editorial team’s, prior knowledge. This was not consistent with Artforum’s editorial process,” the note read. “While a meaningful expression of advocacy from a large group of people in our community, the letter as it appeared on our platforms lacked the necessary context to make clear that it originated from outside the magazine.”

Following the release of the letter, criticism against it from gallerists and dealers grew, multiple sources told The Intercept. Added pressure came from collector Michael Eisenberg, heir to the (now bankrupt) Bed Bath & Beyond fortune, per The Intercept. Eisenberg, who owns millions in work from some of the signatories, reportedly contacted at least four and alerted them to his “displeasure” at seeing their names on the letter. Artists including Peter Doig, Joan Jonas, Katharina Grosse, and Tomás Saraceno were among 36 artists whose signatures were removed from the letter between October 20 and 26, according to the report. The letter initially omitted mention of the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel, which killed 1,400 people. A later addition on October 23 added, “While we cannot recirculate the petition to all 8,000 signatories, we, the group that authored the petition — as well as a number of the signatories who have reached out in recent days — would like to repeat that we reject ‘violence against all civilians, regardless of their identity’ and share revulsion at the horrific massacres of 1,400 people in Israel conducted by Hamas on October 7th.”

Velasco signed his name alongside artists and critics including Nan Goldin, Laura Poitras, Barbara Kruger, Judith Butler, and Saidiya Hartman. “The arts community is diverse and crosses borders, nationalities, systems of faith and belief,” the letter read. “We as artists, writers, curators, filmmakers, publishers, and workers who produce work, collaborate and communicate, create the core around which institutions and organizations revolve, need to be assured that these are not just safe but humane spaces.”