The YAMS collective, which is made up of musicians, poets, actors, writers and visual artists from around the world and describes itself as mostly black and queer, is participating in the Biennial under the name HowDoYouSayYaminAfrican? and allowed its video “Good Stock on the Dimension Floor: An Opera“ to be screened in March. But in the letter, it asked the museum to cancel final screenings of the video at the show, which ends on May 25.

Image Sienna Shields of the art collective YAMS. Credit... Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Mr. Scanlan said he had not encountered much opposition to the Donelle Woolford theme until it was selected for the 2014 Biennial, in which it is represented by two paintings and “Dick’s Last Stand,” a series of performances around the country. In the show, Donelle, played by the artist Jennifer Kidwell, appears in drag to re-enact a subversive stand-up routine recorded in 1977 by Richard Pryor for the last episode of his TV comedy show. (It was not included in the final NBC broadcast.)

“Dick’s Last Stand” was recently seen at the Kitchen in Chelsea and at Jack, a performance space in Brooklyn.

Mr. Scanlan said in a telephone interview that Donelle Woolford is a collaborative project and that two of the Donelle actors — Ms. Kidwell, who lives in Philadelphia, and Abigail Ramsay, based in New York — had shaped a substantial amount of the material. “It’s not just one person’s project anymore,” he said. “The three of us have worked together for the last seven years. I am surprised that people are not more willing to suspend disbelief for a moment.”

“I am not racially insensitive,” Mr. Scanlan said in an email. “I can understand how anyone could draw that conclusion from their first reaction to Donelle Woolford. But any deeper or more nuanced investigation into the project proves otherwise. The same would be true for anyone who looked at my career as an artist and educator.”