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The Daily OrangeArt director's firing stuns Syracuse
By Megan Saucke
Posted: 9/19/07, 12:14 AM EST Section: News
The sudden firing of The Warehouse Gallery's director left many in the Syracuse University community shocked and dismayed.
For most, including the dismissed director, Astria Suparak, the decision was mysterious and unexpected.
"I haven't talked to one person who wasn't shocked and appalled," said Allison Fox, a College of Visual and Performing Arts graduate student.
Recent SU graduate and former intern at the gallery Katie Skelly called the decision "unthinkable. … I really can't imagine what she could have done to make them fire her."
Jeffrey Hoone, executive director of the Coalition of Museums and Art Centers, took responsibility for Suparak's firing.
"Nobody else made this decision for me," Hoone said. "I made this decision in consultation with the human resources department."
Suparak, who has worked as curator and director of the gallery since June 2006, was given notice this past week. Since then, e-mails have been flying back and forth among faculty, students, artists and curators from all across the country trying to figure out what Hoone's reasoning could be.
The future of an upcoming exhibit by The Yes Men, a group of activists, has been in question since the announcement of Suparak's termination.
The Warehouse Gallery Web site stated that the exhibit had been canceled. This provoked a public outcry, especially from professors who had invested in it financially and had already incorporated the exhibit into their curriculum.
Hoone announced that he plans to work to keep the exhibit on the schedule and that he never canceled it in the first place.
Suparak, however, believes otherwise.
"He definitely told me it was canceled, and I asked very specifically," Suparak said.
Either way, there is a question whether The Yes Men will even do the show anymore without Suparak as director.
"I don't think they're going to come here without Astria," says Joanna Spitzner, a professor in the Foundation program at VPA. Hoone "hasn't developed that relationship with them."
For most, including the dismissed director, Astria Suparak, the decision was mysterious and unexpected.
"I haven't talked to one person who wasn't shocked and appalled," said Allison Fox, a College of Visual and Performing Arts graduate student.
Recent SU graduate and former intern at the gallery Katie Skelly called the decision "unthinkable. … I really can't imagine what she could have done to make them fire her."
Jeffrey Hoone, executive director of the Coalition of Museums and Art Centers, took responsibility for Suparak's firing.
"Nobody else made this decision for me," Hoone said. "I made this decision in consultation with the human resources department."
Suparak, who has worked as curator and director of the gallery since June 2006, was given notice this past week. Since then, e-mails have been flying back and forth among faculty, students, artists and curators from all across the country trying to figure out what Hoone's reasoning could be.
The future of an upcoming exhibit by The Yes Men, a group of activists, has been in question since the announcement of Suparak's termination.
The Warehouse Gallery Web site stated that the exhibit had been canceled. This provoked a public outcry, especially from professors who had invested in it financially and had already incorporated the exhibit into their curriculum.
Hoone announced that he plans to work to keep the exhibit on the schedule and that he never canceled it in the first place.
Suparak, however, believes otherwise.
"He definitely told me it was canceled, and I asked very specifically," Suparak said.
Either way, there is a question whether The Yes Men will even do the show anymore without Suparak as director.
"I don't think they're going to come here without Astria," says Joanna Spitzner, a professor in the Foundation program at VPA. Hoone "hasn't developed that relationship with them."
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