The Walker Art Center will remove one of the artworks selected for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which reopens in a week, after local outcry that it was offensive to American Indians.
“Scaffold,” a 2012 piece by Los Angeles artist Sam Durant, is a multi-layered wood-and-steel piece meant to call to mind seven gallows used in U.S.-sanctioned executions by hanging between 1859 and 2006. One of those executions was the 1862 hanging of 38 Native American men in Mankato, Minn.
Since Friday, local Native American groups have expressed dismay at the artwork.
James Cross, who identifies as half Anishinaabe and half Dakota, told the Pioneer Press that seeing “Scaffold” installed with no notice to and no input from the local Native American community “was just a slap in the face.” Cross was among several people who protested at the Walker, displaying signs that read, “This isn’t art, this is murder” and “Racism.”
On Saturday afternoon, Walker executive director Olga Viso issued a statement saying after listening to feedback about “Scaffold,” she was “in agreement with the artist that the best way to move forward is to have Scaffold dismantled in some manner and to listen and learn from the Elders.”
A representative for The Walker did not return calls seeking additional comment.
In an open letter published earlier on the Walker’s website and in the Circle, a newspaper aimed at a Native American readership, Viso apologized for not understanding how the provocative the work would be.
“As director of the Walker, I regret that I did not better anticipate how the work would be received in Minnesota, especially by Native audiences,” she wrote. “I should have engaged leaders in the Dakota and broader Native communities in advance of the work’s siting, and I apologize for any pain and disappointment that the sculpture might elicit.”
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is set to reopen June 3 as “a renewed, 19-acre hub for culture and community.”
