Laura Raicovich, whose directorship of the Queens Museum in New York ended in controversy, has been taken on as interim director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. The institution, in Lower Manhattan, collects and shows art by LGBTQ artists or art about LGBTQ themes, issues and people. Raicovich was forced to resign from the Queens Museum in 2018 after its board found fault with her handling of the hiring of the institution’s premises to the Israeli government for an event. The board said the director’s alleged resistance to the deal amounted to anti-Semitism, while also citing a 2017 book she had coedited that featured essays supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, known as B.D.S.
Raicovich takes over the Leslie-Lohman, which is currently closed due to measures tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, from Gonzalo Casals, who has been appointed New York City’s new Cultural Affairs Commissioner. She says, however, that her tenure will be temporary, and that someone who identifies as LGBTQ should be appointed permanent director in due course.
Prior to the Queens Museum, Raicovich inaugurated Creative Time’s Global Initiatives, launching Creative Time Reports, and directed the Creative Time Summit.
