Museums Half Methods With Architect David Adjaye Over Sexual Assault Allegations

The Studio Museum in Harlem has reportedly lower ties with David Adjaye after three ladies accused the British-Ghanaian architect of sexual assault and harassment. The establishment, which enlisted Adjaye to design its long-anticipated new dwelling on West one hundred and twenty fifth Road, will work with architect Cooper Robertson and Adjaye Associates’s New York workforce, with Adjaye himself stepping again from the mission, in response to the New York Times.

“The actions being alleged are counter to the founding rules and values of the Studio Museum,” Raymond J. McGuire, chairman of the Studio Museum board, instructed the Instances in a press release. The museum has not but responded to Hyperallergic‘s rapid request for remark.

The information that the Studio Museum and Adjaye would half methods comes within the wake of comparable bulletins by establishments in the UK and the USA. The UK Holocaust Memorial in London confirmed that it will no longer work with the architect, who additionally resigned from his function as architectural advisor to the mayor of London. In Lincoln, Massachusetts, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum put its plans to point out Adjaye’s sculpture “Asaase” (2021) this fall on “indefinite maintain.” And Adjaye Associates will now not be concerned in plans for a brand new constructing of the Multnomah County Library in Portland, per a July 5 discover on its website.

The accusations in query, detailed in a Financial Times report printed July 4, have been introduced ahead by three anonymized ladies who have been former staff of Adjaye’s agency. Beneath the pseudonyms Maya, Gene, and Dunia, they alleged that the famed architect engaged in varied types of sexual harassment, starting from coercion to assault. Additionally they mentioned that Adjaye didn’t pay them in a well timed method and accused him of discriminating in opposition to Black ladies.

Adjaye has denied allegations of wrongdoing. In a press release shared with Hyperallergic by Kendal Advisory, a disaster administration agency representing the architect, he referred to as the accusations “unfaithful.”

“I’m ashamed to say that I entered into relationships which although fully consensual, blurred the boundaries between my skilled and private lives,” Adjaye said. “I’m deeply sorry. To revive belief and accountability, I shall be instantly in search of skilled assist to be able to study from these errors to make sure that they by no means occur once more.”

Different museums and cultural organizations have but to announce a break with the architect, however some have issued public statements acknowledging the allegations. The Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis, which is presenting a sculptural set up by Adjaye on the Griot Museum of Black Historical past, said it might “assess the perfect subsequent steps within the days to return in dialogue with our neighborhood.”

At Princeton College in New Jersey, a brand new Adjaye-designed artwork museum is slated to open in late 2024. Director James Steward indicated in a press release to the New York Instances that the museum, for which building started in 2021, would forge forward as deliberate. “We discover the character of the accusations enormously troubling,” Steward instructed the paper. “It’s honest to say that the majority of our work with Adjaye is behind us. We’ve got an obligation to all of the folks concerned on this mission to see it to completion.” Princeton College has not but responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for remark.