NEW INFORMATION!

OUTSET AND TATE'S ‘PARTNERSHIP’ WITH LEVIEV:

SO TOXIC, BLACKROCK DIVESTED IN 2009

Outset Contemporary Art Fund's declared 'corporate partners and foundations' include Leviev. Billionaire owner Lev Leviev was the chairman and majority shareholder of holding company Africa–Israel Investments from 1997–2018. Leviev has been implicated in major human rights abuses at his mines in Angola, including torture, sexual abuse, and assassinations. The company also has diamond mines in Russia and Leviev has been described as a close friend of Vladimir Putin.

Leviev and Africa-Israel Investments have a long history of illegal settlement building in the West Bank, displacing Palestinian communities in contravention of international law. Subsidiaries of Leviev’s Africa-Israel portfolio have also worked as contractors for the IDF on multiple construction projects.

Leviev’s involvement in funding and building illegal settlements in the West Bank was at a height when the Outset Frieze Tate Fund was ‘supported’ by Leviev in 2013 and 2014. This means that works by 9 artists were acquired for the Tate collection using wealth generated in part by an active participation in apartheid and the displacement of Palestinians, as well as profits tainted by credible reports of human rights abuses in Angola.

Despite Leviev’s activities being widely publicised and the subject of boycotts from 2008 onwards, the connection never seems to have been made publicly in the art world, or was perhaps deliberately avoided. In a press release from 2014 mentioning Leviev’s sponsorship, then Director of Tate Nicholas Serota was quoted as saying ‘we are immensely grateful to Outset for this support.’

Tate and Outset have major questions to answer. Their partnership with Leviev came during a period in which companies and organisations ranging from BlackRock, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish Banks, US pension fund TIAA-CREF, and the British Government, to charities including Unicef and Oxfam, all divested and distanced themselves from Leviev and Africa–Israel in the wake of concerted BDS campaigns.

Outset continues to proudly publicise their partnership with Leviev on their Corporate Partners and Foundations page, where they say they offer partners ‘bespoke entrepreneurial, collaborative and empowering solutions aligned with your personal objectives or brand values.' By choosing to continue this relationship, Outset have made it clear that they have no problem aligning themselves with Leviev’s 'brand values' of illegal occupation, human rights abuses, and ties to Vladimir Putin.

Valentine's Day protest at Leviev, NYC on 6 February, 2016