e-flux Criticism // 'Witch Hunt' at the The Hammer Museum and The Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
“Witch Hunt” opens with an unnerving chill courtesy of El agua del Río Bravo (2021), a sculptural installation by Teresa Margolles that envelops visitors ascending the Hammer’s steps in air cooled by water gathered from the Río Bravo, along the US-Mexican border, by residents of the Casa Respetttrans women’s shelter. The work sets the tone for an exhibition responding to today’s generalized culture of misogyny with powerful work by an international roster of midcareer women artists.
It may be tempting to assume that the show’s title is mere allegory: that concerns about cabals of female devil worship no longer occupy the minds of contemporary Americans. But a cursory review of the news, from Pizzagate to the “lock her up” refrain against Hillary Clinton and death threats against AOC, show that women who threaten to disrupt male power will continue to be accused of evil. And where witch hunts once referred to the persecution of the weak by the powerful, the script flipped in 1973 when Richard Nixon used the term to denounce the Watergate hearings, setting in motion a pattern of powerful men—most notably Donald Trump—claiming to be the subjects of exactly such a threat. This show across two institutions was planned long before last year’s attack on the US Capitol, yet its coincidence with the assault’s anniversary, and the attendant resurgence in rhetoric around what (Nixon-tattooed) Trump strategist Roger Stone has called “witch hunt 3.0,” have shifted the meaning of the term even further.1 Curators Connie Butler, Anne Ellegood, and Nika Chilewich make clear that they use the phrase “witch hunt” to invoke male leaders “threatened with the loss of their status” who appropriate victimhood to serve their own persecution complex.
Image credit: Yael Bartana, Patriarchy is History, 2019. Neon, 198 × 185 cm. Image courtesy of the artist; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam; and Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv. Photo by Tom Haartsen.
