Hank Willis Thomas’s contribution to New York magazine’s “My New York” campaign (courtesy the artist and New York Media)
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Elizabeth A. Sackler expressed her support for Nan Goldin’s campaign against members of the Sackler family over Purdue Pharma’s role in the US opioid epidemic. Elizabeth Sackler’s uncles, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, were the principal owners of Purdue Pharma when the company released the prescription painkiller OxyContin onto the market. “My father, Arthur M. Sackler, died in 1987, before OxyContin existed and his one-third option in Purdue Frederick was sold by his estate to his brothers a few months later,” Elizabeth Sackler told Hyperallergic. “I stand with all angry voices against abuse of power that harms or compromises any and all lives.”
New York magazine launched “My New York,” a campaign celebrating the publication’s 50th anniversary. Posters of cover designs by artists including Mel Bochner, John Giorno, Alex Katz, Barbara Kruger, Marilyn Minter, Yoko Ono, Rob Pruitt, and Hank Willis Thomas, will be publicly distributed in various formats across the city.
Cho Yoon-sun, South Korea’s former minister of culture, was jailed for two years for her role in drawing up a blacklist of over 10,000 artists perceived to be critical of former president Park Geun-hye.
Two members of Pussy Riot, Lusine Djanyan and Alexei Knedlyakovsky, are reportedly seeking asylum in Sweden.
The Louvre shut down its basement display of Islamic art as the Seine continues to rise. The river is expected to reach a height of 6.1 meters (~20 feet) tomorrow, three times its normal height.
Twenty-four artists, museum employees, and politicians, signed an open letter calling to reject the installation of “Bouquet of Tulips,” Jeff Koons’s proposed gift to the city of Paris.
Michelangelo visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Michelangelo exhibition (photo courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Michelangelo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Michelangelo exhibition yesterday morning.
The Stedelijk Museum cancelled its Ettore Sottsass retrospective. According to a press release, the show as suspended due to “a difference of opinion concerning the […] choice of exhibition concept” between the museum and Sottsass’s heirs and representatives. The Stedelijk owns 80 works created by the artist and designer. The artist’s widow, Barbara Radice, and gallery owner Ernest Mourmans issued a joint statement in which they described the museum’s announcement as “misleading.”
Westminster Council rejected a proposal for a statue of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher opposite Parliament due to a lack of support from Thatcher’s family, concerns over the sculpture’s design, and fears that the work would attract protestors and vandals.
Kassel authorities are seeking to raise €600,000 (~$742,000) to acquire Olu Oguibe‘s “Das Fremdlinge und Flüchtlinge” (“Monument for Strangers and Refugees,” 2017). Kassel city councilman Thomas Materner, a member of the far-right party AfD, has threatened to organize protests should the city acquire the work.
The UK’s first major retrospective of Andreas Gursky opened at the newly refurbished Hayward Gallery.
Transactions
Edvard Munch, “Felix Auerbach” (1906) (courtesy Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)
The Van Gogh Museum acquired Edvard Munch’s 1906 portrait of physicist Felix Auerbach.
The Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada acquired 635 photographs by photographer and filmmaker Paul Strand.
The Dia Art Foundation acquired four works by Mary Corse.
Paddle8 received investment from Swiss technology and e-commerce company The Native. The two companies will partner on Bidcoin, “the ever bitcoin auction of art and collectible luxury.”
The Snite Museum of Art acquired 19 modern and contemporary paintings by Irish artists from the Donald and Marilyn Keough family.
The San Antonio Museum of Art acquired works by Kevin Beasley, Rodney McMillian, and Martine Syms.
The Rose Art Museum acquired work by B. Ingrid Olson.
The Meadows Museum, SMU, acquired “Beach at Portici” (1874), the last painting created by Mariano Fortuny y Marsal.
Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, “Beach at Portici” (1874), oil on canvas, 27 x 51 1/4 in (courtesy Meadows Museum, SMU)
Transitions
Chana Budgazad Sheldon was appointed executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami.
Nick Stillman was appointed executive director of Prospect New Orleans.
David Setford was appointed executive director of the Tacoma Art Museum.
Simon Baker was appointed executive director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (European House of Photography).
Thomas H. Woodward was appointed chief advancement officer of the Clark Art Institute [via email announcement].
Donna Douglass will serve as the interim director of Erie Art Museum while the institution continues its search for a permanent executive director.
Margarita Rosa, Esq. was appointed interim executive director of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute [via email announcement].
Jude Kelly announced that she will step down as artistic director of the Southbank Center.
Ellen Tani was appointed assistant curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. The museum also announced promotions: Jeffrey De Blois as assistant curator, Ruth Erickson as Mannion Family curator, and Jessica Hong as assistant curator.
Heidi Rabben was appointed curator of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
Bryan Barcena was appointed assistant curator and manager of publications at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Allison Glenn (a Hyperallergic contributor) was appointed associate curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
The Milwaukee Art Museum appointed Mark Zimmerman as its deputy director of operations.
TEFAF (the European Fine Art Foundation) announced five appointments to its board of trustees.
Columbus State University inaugurated the Bo Bartlett Center, its new 18,500-square-foot arts center.
The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on whether to give the Los Angeles County Museum of Art a 35-year lease for an 80,000-square-foot building in South Los Angeles Wetlands Park. The museum is actively looking to create one or two new satellite spaces in South Los Angeles.
Codex, a new bookstore selling old and new books with a focus on literary fiction and art, opened in the East Village.
The New Art Dealers Alliance announced that it will create an acquisition fund for the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
Grin Contemporary announced that it will close its gallery in Providence.
Büro Ole Scheeren announced the completion of the Guardian Art Center, billed as the world’s first custom-built auction house.
Guardian Art Center by Ole Scheeren, view from North Plaza (photo by Iwan Baan)
Accolades
Jill Magid was awarded the 2017 Calder Prize.
Song Sanghee was awarded the 2017 Korea Artist Prize.
Robin Rhode was awarded the eleventh Zurich Art Prize.
The Venice Biennale awarded its 2018 Lion Awards for Dance. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to dancer and choreographer Meg Stuart. The Silver Lion was awarded to dancer and choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas.
NYC Department of Cultural Affairs announced four new appointments as part of the City’s Public Artists in Residence program: Rachel Barnard, Onyedika Chuke, Ebony Golden, and Tatyana Fazlalizadeh.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian announced the five finalists to design the National Native American Veterans Memorial: James Dihn, Dan SaSuWeh Jones and Enoch Kelly Haney, Harvey Pratt, Stefanie Rocknak, and Leroy Transfield.
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation announced the recipients of its 16th annual Grants and Commissions Program.
The Foundation for Contemporary Arts awarded 19 grants totaling $760,000.
Opportunities
Applications are open for the 2018 Faena Prize for the Arts through February 15. The winning proposal will be produced for exhibition at Faena Art Center Buenos Aires in 2019
Obituaries
Howard Miller for Westinghouse Electric, “We Can Do It!” (1943) (via Wikipedia)
Wendell Castle (1932–2018), designer.
John Barton (1928–2018), theater director.
Mary Lee Berners-Lee (1924–2018), computer scientist.
Nicola Gordon Bowe (1948–2018), art historian.
Valery N. Chalidze (1938–2018), theoretical physicist, activist and Soviet dissident.
Naomi Parker Fraley (1921–2018), war worker and waitress. Likely inspired the 1943 poster of Rosie the Riveter.
William Bryan Jordan Jr. (unconfirmed–2018), art historian and philanthropist.
Ursula K Le. Guin (1929–2018), science fiction and fantasy author.
Hugh Masekela (1939–2018), trumpeter, singer-songwriter, and activist.
Peter Mayle (1939–2018), writer.
Ed Moses (1926–2018), painter.
Nicanor Parra (1914–2018), poet.
Mark E. Smith (1957–2018), musician and frontman of the Fall.
Wyatt Tee Walker (1929–2018), civil rights activist. Chief of staff to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jack Whitten (1939–2018), artist.
