An Artist’s MFA Show Confronts Columbia University Over Gaza

An Artist’s MFA Show Confronts Columbia University Over Gaza

In Columbia University’s MFA show, artist Alejandro Valencia loudly names the elephant in the room: The Manhattan school’s institutional failure to come to terms with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. “DYNAMO (RATM01)” (2026) is included in the Visual Arts + Sound Art Class of 2026’s thesis exhibition, on view at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery through this Sunday, May 24. The work resembles an engine room, alluding to the institution…