NY Jewish Museum suspends curator over harassment allegations

New York’s Jewish Museum has suspended all current projects with senior curator Jens Hoffman following sexual harassment allegations by several museum staff members.

Hoffman was suspended on December 4, less than a week after the museum staff members came forward, the ARTnews website reported, citing a statement sent to the publication by the museum.

The museum said that it is reviewing the allegations.

Hoffmann served for four years as the Jewish Museum’s deputy director for exhibitions and programs beginning in 2012, and then served as director of special exhibitions and public programs. The suspension comes after the announcement late last month that Hoffmann was leaving his position as co-artistic director of Front International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.

Since his suspension from the Jewish Museum, several other institutions also have suspended or fired Hoffmann from his roles, including the Honolulu Biennial, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, Kadist, an international foundation and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary of Art’s upcoming People’s Biennial.

He also was suspended as editor-at-large by the Milan-based Mousse Magazine art publication, and suspended from his position as artistic director of Fundación Arte, a Buenos Aires-based foundation, ARTnews reported.

Meanwhile, three editors of the “Exhibitionist,” a journal about curatorial practices that Hoffmann founded in 2009, have resigned.

Hoffmann’s attorney, Lance Gotko, told ARTnews in response to the allegations: “He can firmly say he has never subjected anyone at the museum to sexual harassment.”

The attorney said that he has not heard from the Jewish Museum since the suspension and that he regretted that other institutions also cut ties with him. “He’s obviously very disappointed with the actions taken by those institutions,” Gotko said.