As the atrocities mount up, the silence of UK cultural institutions grows more deafening, the double standards ever more glaring.

In March 2022, a fortnight after Russia invaded Ukraine, Tate cut ties with billionaire donors and Tate International Council members, Viktor Vekselberg and Petr Aven. ‘We will not work with or maintain relationships with anyone associated with the Russian government,’ said Tate.

On Palestine, Tate has made no such statement. On the contrary, it has kept up its relationships with donors and organisations associated with the Israeli government. It has remained silent on Israel’s total destruction of Gaza. 

Now, in the lead up to this year’s Turner Prize awards ceremony, more than 60 artists closely associated with Tate (including three out of four of this year’s Turner Prize nominees, two of its judges, and many former prize winners and nominees) have signed an open letter. Supported by a thousand further signatories in the arts, it calls on Tate’s leadership to cut ties with organisations that are deeply complicit with the Israeli state. 

The letter demands that Tate end its relationships with Outset Contemporary Art Fund, the Zabludowicz Art Trust and Zabludowicz Art Projects,  including their founders and directors Candida Gertler and Anita and Poju Zabludowicz.

The Outset Contemporary Art Fund has funded Tate acquisitions.  The Zabludowicz Arts Trust and Zabludowicz Arts Projects sponsor Tate and lend works to its collection. 

The Fund, the Trust and the Projects are all linked to companies which sustain and develop Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank. The rewards from settler-colonialism materially benefit Tate; the collusion of Tate with Outset and Zabludowicz normalises occupation.

The artists write:

‘After a year of genocide in Palestine, you have chosen to maintain relationships with donors and organisations associated with the Israeli government and remained silent on Israel’s total destruction of Gaza and its escalations in the West Bank and Lebanon. Rather than taking the line dictated by the UK government, we call on you to act on the demands of your community.’

Protest and rally

On Tuesday 3rd December, Tate Britain will host the Turner Prize ceremony, centring work which speaks to experiences of colonialism, marginalisation, loss and recovery.  Yet at the same time, the institution seeks to hold on to its place in a nexus of power where Palestinian lives count for nothing. 

To protest this ‘institutional complicity with genocide’ a coalition of groups has come together to call a demonstration and rally. Tate’s silence will be loudly broken. 

Add your name

Artists and arts workers can add their name to the open letter here.