The Design Museum in Kensington, London has removed the Sackler name from its library in a bid to distance itself from the family accused of making a profit from the US opioid crisis.
The museum’s decision to drop the Sackler name comes after similar moves by London-based institutions including the V&A, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum and Tate.
Through their company Purdue Pharma, the billionaire family sold addictive painkiller OxyContin. This is documented in the 2021 Disney+ drama Dopesick.
“Following discussions with our staff, visitors and the design community, the museum made the decision in April 2022 to remove the Sackler name from the library,” a Design Museum spokesperson told the Evening Standard.
“They’ve not said they want the money back, they’ve just said take the name off,” Tim Marlow, Design Museum director, told the publication.
Cultural institutions respond to US opioid crisis
The Louvre in Paris was the first major museum to cut ties with the Sacklers in 2019. In late 2021, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art dropped the name from seven exhibition spaces in the building.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City has also removed the Sackler name.
The V&A was the last big cultural institution in London to cut the name. The Sackler family and the V&A had “mutually agreed” to the decision, a spokesperson told the Guardian.
Prior to that, the National Gallery said its decision to remove the Sackler name had been “jointly agreed” with the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation.
The gallery said it was “grateful for the support it has received from the foundation to undertake its educational and collection-related programmes”.
Images: Design Museum
