Silence as Art World Currency

Dread Scott, Seph Rodney (Number 41), 2019

As Seph Rodney departs Hyperallergic for new projects, his farewell essay, “Art Criticism as a Way to Live,” is an important one, so I recommend reading the entire piece. But there’s one particular passage I wanted to highlight:

“I’ve found that silence is one of the key ways that the art scene operates. It makes certain conversations private when it would better serve us to have them be public. I’m not only thinking of the sexual harassment or abuse of employees. There are more subtle ways that silence is wielded.”

After working in art museums for nearly a decade, I’ve witnessed the best of people and the worst. Which is just to say, Rodney is right. Silence can be and is weaponized in these institutions. But when you are passionate about your work but still independent-minded… When is silence complicity? When is it self-preservation?