More than 50 artists and cultural figures, many based in Israel, have signed a letter urging American artist Judy Chicago and Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova to cancel their collaborative exhibition "What if women ruled the world?" at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The show, which opened last week, features a digital quilt responding to the titular question. The letter, seen by The Art Newspaper, argues that holding the exhibition in Israel makes the artists "complicit" in what the signatories describe as genocide in Gaza, citing a recent UN commission finding. Tolokonnikova stated she is not involved in the ongoing project, while Chicago declined to comment. The museum defended the exhibition as a space for reflection and dialogue, not an endorsement of any political position.
This controversy matters because it highlights the growing pressure on international artists to take political stances regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly in the context of cultural boycotts. The letter invokes the artists' own feminist and social justice commitments to challenge their participation, framing the exhibition as "artwashing" alleged atrocities. The incident reflects a broader debate in the art world about the ethics of exhibiting in Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza, and tests how institutions balance artistic freedom with political accountability. The involvement of high-profile feminist artists like Chicago and Tolokonnikova amplifies the stakes, as their work is explicitly about women's rights and empowerment.