Modernist Targets and Muslim Labels

President Donald Trump is laying out a new set of demands for the Smithsonian Institution, starting with a monumental statue of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History. In late-Friday Truth Social posts, Trump called for an exhibition honoring Washington to open imminently and run through February 22, 2032, which he described as the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth. He also said an 11-foot Washington statue—featured at the recent Freedom 250 IndyCar race in the museum’s Flag Hall—should be erected on September 17, Constitution Day. Trump also urged the museum to replace Infinity, a kinetic sculpture by New York artist José de Rivera dedicated in 1967, with a 30-foot Washington. He accused the Smithsonian of not giving Washington and other Founding Fathers enough celebration.

Hyperallergic’s “Good Muslim Artist, Bad Muslim Artist” brings together reflections, criticism, and community news across the art world. Artist Naeem Mohaiemen looks back on the period after 9/11 through Mahmood Mamdani’s 2004 book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, recalling how “we naively thought if we were polite in the face of Islamophobia, it would wilt,” and writing from his position today as a professor at Columbia University. The issue also highlights critic Channelle Chevelle Russell’s review of a Pope.L exhibition in Manhattan, focusing on works on paper at the Drawing Center. On the news side, it notes that the School of Visual Arts will end its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program amid a mounting deficit, and that the Brooklyn Public Library has officially launched its first-ever lending program for craft supplies.

That’s it for today’s download—links to both stories are in the show notes. Come back tomorrow for more art world headlines with context you can actually use. Chinga la migra

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