Hito Steyerl criticizes Sackler family sponsorship at Serpentine Sackler Gallery exhibition opening

During her solo exhibition opening at London's Serpentine Sackler Gallery, artist Hito Steyerl publicly criticized the Sackler family, whose name appears on the institution. The family owns Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, and has faced widespread blame for America's opioid addiction crisis. Steyerl described the art world's connection to the Sacklers as being 'married to a serial killer,' calling the situation 'very tricky' and affecting many in the art scene. She urged affected institutions and artists to collaborate on legal solutions and utilize existing institutional bodies for regulation. The artist, appearing visibly nervous according to Artnet, has a history of challenging problematic sponsorships. In 2017, she protested Rheinmetall AG's sponsorship of the Deutschland 8 exhibition in Beijing, where she helped create a standard exhibition agreement requiring due diligence from curators and institutions. For her current Serpentine show, Steyerl developed a virtual reality app that digitally removes the Sackler name from the gallery's facade when viewed through a smartphone. The exhibition opened on April 11, 2019.