On March 16,  the New York Times published a special Museums section, including an article about how museums react to current and historical events and how they have reacted to President Trump’s inauguration. This article is a great look into the opinions specific museums have about showcasing politics and history, and reports directly about the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, The Davis Museum, The Met, and more!

Leaping Into the Fray, or Not

Eras of political raise the question of whether museums should react. While some do, others opt for a long and measured view.

By Graham Bowley

As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration Day approached, hundreds of artists, critics and others asked American museums, galleries and other institutions to close their doors in protest.

They wanted museums to show that they are “places where resistant forms of thinking, seeing, feeling and acting can be produced,” the organizers said in a petition for a “J20 Art Strike.”

Instead, “in a spirit of community, inclusivity and freedom of expression, and in keeping with the museum’s founding belief that art can open peoples’ eyes and minds,” the Guggenheim Museum in New York chose to stay open and planted Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree” in front of its building on Fifth Avenue. Visitors and passers-by were asked to write down their wishes for the future and hang them on the branches…..” (read more at NYTimes.com)