Takedown

Praise

“Beautifully written, thoughtful and thought provoking, relevant to our times.”
—Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

“An eye-opening look at how contemporary political issues find their ways into the hushed halls of museums and galleries.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Marvelously lucid.”
—Hyperallergic 

“Farah Nayeri’s Takedown, about art and power in the digital age, is a timely book that is uniquely brilliant. The author, backed up by facts, maps out the crazy madness of our current art world which to a great degree reflects today’s extreme capitalism. In a clear and succinct manner, she unravels the giant game of power, money, and competition ingrained in cultural institutions, where issues of individual freedom, gender and religion are at play. The book is easy to read, interesting, and observant. In its conclusion, the author quotes Alice Procter’s answer to the question of how soon a changing of the guard in the art world will happen, ‘I think some people have to die’ – a fittingly controversial language.”
— Ai Weiwei

“Farah Nayeri’s book is the most complete discussion to date of the impact of Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and ‘cancel culture’ on the visual arts – in the US, Britain, and France. It includes fascinating and illustrative examples, and concludes with a convincing argument as to why museums should show not only great historical art, but also new, untested art – from all communities. A must-read for every museum director.” 
— Don Thompson, author of The $12 Million Stuffed Shark and The Orange Balloon Dog.