{"id":2228974,"date":"2026-10-29T19:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T16:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2228974"},"modified":"2026-10-29T19:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T16:24:13","slug":"house-republicans-demand-information-on-smithsonians-curatorial-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2228974","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans Demand Information on Smithsonian\u2019s Curatorial Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/CooperHewitt.jpeg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tTwo Republican members of the House of Representatives want to know more about how the Smithsonian Institution evaluates proposed exhibits after a museum display tied US-made munitions to the destruction of civilian\u2019s homes in conflict zones.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency is concerned that the Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian) does not properly review proposed exhibits in its museums,\u201d says a letter to outgoing Smithsonian secretary Lonnie Bunch III, penned by subcommittee chairman Tim Burchett of Tennessee along with Georgia\u2019s Brian Jack.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move comes in the wake of a July hearing at which Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History (NMAH) was grilled by lawmakers, including Burchett, who demanded to know, \u201cDr. Hartig, are you America first? Do you love America?\u201d Burchett and Jack say that at that hearing, members requested information on the Smithsonian\u2019s content review process but say the institution has failed to provide it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Smithsonian has been a target of Republicans since the beginning of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, when he wrote an executive order taking aim at the institution. The national network of museums and research institutions receives the majority of its funding through Congress. As recently as September, the White House accused the institution of discrimation and threatened to cut federal grants.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the letter, the congressmen direct their ire at one display in particular, which appeared in \u201cMaking Home\u2014Smithsonian Design Triennial\u201d (2024\u201325) at New York\u2019s Cooper Hewitt. \u201cPatterns of Life\u201d was a commission by London-born data journalist Mona Chalabi, now living in New York, and visual investigation practice SITU Research, established in Brooklyn in 2005. Their project, as described on the museum\u2019s website, \u201creflects on the experiences of three individuals whose homes were destroyed by domicide\u2014the widespread and systematic destruction of housing due to military conflict, urban development, or social upheaval.\u201d The United Nations, the creators point out, is reviewing domicide for potential recognition as a crime under international law.<\/p>\n

\n\tChalabi and SITU\u2019s display investigated and documented homes destroyed by US-manufactured weapons during airstrikes in Iraq in 2015, Syria in 2016, and Gaza in 2023. Architectural models showed people\u2019s homes in those three places, representing heirlooms, books, toys and other household objects to \u201ccelebrate the intimate lives within those homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChalabi and SITU\u2019s presentation was just one of 25 projects commissioned for the exhibition, some by visual artists including La Vaughn Belle, Hugh Hayden, Joiri Minaya, Robert Earl Paige, William Scott, Amie Siegel, and Ren\u00e9e Stout; also on the roster were photographers, designers, interdisciplinary collectives, and others. Overall, the show aimed to \u201cexplore design\u2019s role in shaping the physical and emotional realities of home across the United States, US Territories, and Tribal Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WASHINGTON,<\/div>\n<\/div>
National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig speaks during a hearing titled \u201cRewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian\u2019s Efforts to Reshape the Past,\u201d held by an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on July 21, 2026.<\/span>Photo Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Smithsonian Institution was founded for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,\u201d say the lawmakers in their letter. \u201cIts content review procedures need to be sufficiently robust to prevent blatantly partisan and inaccurate exhibitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn at least one way, the display doesn\u2019t seem entirely to fit the lawmakers\u2019 characterization as one-sided. Says the museum, \u201c\u2018Patterns of Life\u2019 illuminates the complex role of the US in this issue, as it stands as the leading financial contributor to United Nations peacekeeping initiatives, but also the world\u2019s largest producer of arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBurchett and Jack say in their letter that the installation was \u201coriginally proposed to showcase 10 New York City buildings compressed into a single room,\u201d but that \u201cthis originally uncontroversial proposal was turned into a display of homes destroyed by American made munitions in various military engagements against ISIS and other terrorist organizations.\u201d They object to the organizers\u2019 wish, as they say the Smithsonian described it, \u201cto portray American military doctrine and even America\u2019s founding as being intertwined with \u2018domicide,\u2019 defined as \u2018the massive and deliberate destruction of homes in order to cause human suffering.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNeither the Cooper Hewitt nor the Smithsonian Institution immediately responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/CooperHewitt.jpeg?w=1024″] Two Republican members of the House of Representatives want to know more about how the Smithsonian Institution evaluates proposed exhibits after a museum display tied US-made munitions to the destruction of civilian\u2019s homes in conflict zones. \u201cThe Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency is concerned that the Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian) does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2228974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2228974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2228974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2228974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2228974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}