Art spaces across the US and abroad will go dark tomorrow, Friday, January 30, in support of a nationwide general strike in protest of Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity across the country, especially in Minnesota. The state in recent weeks has seen nearly 3,000 agents deployed in its streets by the Trump administration in an anti-immigration crackdown. In the course of these actions, federal agents have killed two US citizens in Minneapolis: Renee Nicole Good, who was shot by an ICE agent on January 7, and Jeffrey Pretti, who was shot by DHS agents on January 24.
The general strike was initiated by the decentralized grassroots movement National Shutdown. A continuation of the statewide January 23 strike instituted in Minnesota by a local chapter of the progressive organization Indivisible, the shutdown is intended to cause economic pain and to free participants from their daily roles to demonstrate against the federal occupation of American cities. Though the decision to close—especially on a Friday, when many galleries increasingly hold openings—may be a costly one, those shuttering deemed it essential to do so.
“It’s a simple but important act of solidarity,” Cristin Tierney, owner of the New York gallery of the same name, told Artforum. “We want the citizens of Minnesota and immigrants all across this country to know they are not alone. Our artists, our staff, our community—we are all standing with them. We are all Minnesotans now.”