Widespread cuts on the federal workforce under President Trump can leave the mass collection of public artworks of the General Services Administration (GSA) in a state of purgatory. As reported by the Washington PostExpected cutbacks on the agency have reportedly influenced the visual art and preservation units of the GSA, which are mainly responsible for the commissioning and maintaining more than 26,000 and stored in the federal buildings of the country.
GSA’s Visual Arts and Historical Bewers told the After Those five regional offices were closed last week and that almost half of the approximately three dozen staff members were abruptly taken in the division in anticipation of termination. The publication assessed an e-mail of 3 March of the newly named GSA-IMAGEMAN Stephen Ehikian in which the dismantling of the aforementioned divisions and their personnel positions were explained, because they “no longer connect” with goals from Agentschap and the White House, which points to Elon Musk’s Revision Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative.
The GSA did not respond immediately HyperallergicThe request for comments.
The GSA was founded in 1949 and is an independent agency of the US government that manages federal property, lease contracts and technology for government agencies. It has around 12,000 employees – a handful of the conservation and historical preservation divisions that work directly with the art collection. The desk has collected Thousands of historical artworks Dating from 1850, including a selection of art commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, crucial documentary photography and public sculptures and installations by people such as Alexander Calder, Sol Lewitt, Maya Lin and Nick Cave.
The news comes a week after the GSA was published and then withdrawn a list of “non -core” buildings that the agency intended to sell To lower operating costs – leave thousands of artworks, many of which require continuous maintenance or permanently installed in or outside of certain buildings, with uncertain futures. Artists with continuous projects commissioned for the agency are reportedly also left in the dark, as well as contracted restorers and curators with open contracts to maintain and repair artworks in the collection.
