USA: Culture fighter Trump wants to bring museums into line
Washington. The US government is conducting an audit of exhibitions at several renowned museums for objectionable depictions of American history. Ahead of the US's 250th anniversary next year, the White House announced in a letter to the Smithsonian Institution, which operates several museums, primarily in the capital, Washington, that the museums are to be examined to determine whether they promote narratives that the government considers "divisive or partisan." According to the letter, exhibition texts, wall labels, websites, and educational materials are to be examined for tone, historical context, and "consistency with American ideals."
According to President Donald Trump's administration, museums in Washington are required to submit concept drafts, exhibition plans, catalogs, and programs for all current exhibitions. Some documents must be submitted within 30 days.
Critics accuse Trump of instigating a veritable culture war and thereby restricting artistic freedom and freedom of expression—an accusation that the political right also makes against left-liberal circles in the US. Museums typically didn't have to worry about presidential interventions under Trump's predecessors, but with the change of power in Washington, that has changed.
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Back in the spring, Trump decreed that museums must strive to present history in line with the government's vision. The Republican claimed that over the past decade, there have been "concerted and widespread attempts to rewrite our country's history and replace facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth."
The decree further stated: "Our nation's unparalleled heritage of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness has been portrayed as racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed." The famous Smithsonian Institution was also cited as an example at the time.
From history to nature to art - in a first phase, the following museums must now undergo the announced investigation: the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden complex.
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