Landres said in an interview that she had proposed to convert the exhibit into virtual programming, but that she had been turned down, Carvajal denied. Some of the $ 120,000 in grant money from the Knight Foundation was then, with the blessing of the foundation, used to create another online experience, ‘I Remember Miami’, in which people shared memories of the city.
“We want to create content that is meaningful, that creates unity, that reminds us all of the beautiful moments in our city,” Ms. Crujeiras said in an online discussion of the arts in Miami. She described the Forensic Exhibition to viewers as “sophisticated, beautiful”, but said it had “very complex elements” that make it difficult to present online during a pandemic.
Mrs. Landres said the controversy over the Forensic Exhibition deepened, Ms. Carvajal falsely accused her of acting without authority and exceeding the budget for ‘True to Scale’. In May, Mrs. Landres said, Mrs. Crujeiras informed her that she was being placed on paid leave and that her contract, which expired in June 2020, would not be renewed.
College and museum officials said they could not discuss the rationale for renewing the contract and called it a personnel matter.
In an email to The Times, Ms. Landres said she thinks the effort to “balance” the Forensic exhibit is designed to satisfy some of the college’s more conservative trustees. But a curator, Marcell Felipe, an appointment of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, said he was not aware of the program.
“I do not think it was ever discussed by the council,” he said.
Landres, back in New York, said the museum could not live up to its ideals and the commitment it made to the group whose work it exhibited.
“They removed the possibility that we would get closer to the truth about Homestead,” she said. “It’s political censorship and it’s also a form of artistic censorship.”