Tai Shani on Art World Censorship, COVID-19 Layoffs, and Demanding the Impossible

Tai Shani, a Turner Prize-winning artist, has decided to withdraw a collaborative public artwork intended for Piccadilly Circus, which she created alongside her fellow 2019 co-winners Helen Cammock, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, and Oscar Murilo. This text-driven installation focused on themes from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, while also referencing the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury's involvement in the colonization of Palestine and an 1840 British attack on Akka. Concerns about potential antisemitism led to institutional pressures for changes to the script. Shani connects this censorship to wider political issues, such as the German parliament's condemnation of BDS in 2019 and the sentencing of BDS activists in France. With over 1,000 art workers facing layoffs due to COVID-19, strikes have erupted at Tate, Southbank Centre, and the National Theatre advocating for job security. Shani also criticizes art schools for being exploitative and calls on art workers to resist complicity with right-wing agendas.