Week in Review: Artists Protest BP, Hong Kong Institutions Strike to Oppose Extradition Bill

Anti-oil activists gathered outside of the National Portrait Gallery in London to protest the awards ceremony for the BP Portrait Awards (photo by Mark Kerrison, courtesy of BP or not BP?)

Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.

On June 10, anti-oil activists blocked the entrance of the National Portrait Gallery to protest BP‘s sponsorship of the prestigious Portrait Award. Dozens of protesters blocked entry to the gallery for guests of the ceremony, linking arms and chaining themselves to the gallery gates. Guests were forced to climb over the wall with the assistance of security in order to enter the gallery. | Hyperallergic

Inspired by the recent Extinction Rebellion climate change protests in the UK, one of the judges of the BP Portrait Award, artist Gary Hume, wrote a letter to the National Portrait Gallery calling for the end of BP’s sponsorship at the museum, saying: “This is the 30th year of BP sponsoring the Portrait Award, and I would argue that 30 years is enough. As the impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, the Gallery will look more and more out of step by hosting an oil-branded art prize.” A group of eight former winners, shortlisted artists, and exhibitors in the BP Portrait Award, also wrote to the museum, urging them to cut ties with British Petroleum. | Hyperallergic

On June 12, Hong Kong’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale closed for the day to join a strike against the highly contested proposed extradition bill, which would allow extraditing fugitives to mainland China. About 100 Hong Kong arts organizations, including commercial galleries, participated in the strike. | Hyperallergic

The New York Times will no longer publish daily political cartoons in its international edition. | NYT

Activists reading from the Mirror Manifesto inside El Museo del Barrio (photo by Hakim Bishara for Hyperallergic)

A group of 15 activists occupied the galleries of El Museo del Barrio during its 50th-anniversary celebration on June 11. In front of political artworks, they read out the Mirror Manifesto, an open letter that Latinx activists released in April in an attempt to steer the museum back toward its roots as a community-based institution. | Hyperallergic

Andrea Bowers’s Art Basel installation, Open Secrets, details sexual assault allegations that have come to light in the wake of the #MeToo movement, but came under fire for using the likeness of a survivor after her assault, without permission. After the victim posted her discomfort with the situation, leading to intense social media scrutiny, the panel was removed. | Hyperallergic

Museums in Brazil have been spared from right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s Rouanet Law, which will minimize federal funding for cultural projects. The annual funding budget per project will be reduced from 60 million Brazilian real (~$15.6 million) to 1 million Brazilian real (~$260,000), “but museums, material and immaterial heritage projects, conservation initiatives and some entertainment productions will be exempt,” according to the Art Newspaper. | TAN

A #NoKidsInCages installation on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York (Photo by Leah Rosenzweig for Hyperallergic)

On June 12, haunting installations about child immigrant detentions appeared across New York City. RAICES, an immigration legal services nonprofit, placed 24 #NoKidsInCages installations in front of media companies, cultural institutions, and other busy New York landmarks. | Hyperallergic

Antoni Gaudí‘s Sagrada Familia has finally received its first building permit from the city of Barcelona, despite being under construction since 1882. The UNESCO world heritage site will pay €4.6 million (~$5.2 million) to the city for the permit, as well as an additional €36 million (~$40.6 million) for its past construction. | Dezeen

Around 90 art handlers and facilities staff at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum have announced their intention to unionize. “There’s no recourse here,” one art handler told Hyperallergic. “It’s about lack of transparency; we have no autonomy and no voice. If we enter negotiations, then we can set a standard.” | Hyperallergic

Staff members at the Frye Museum in Seattle will hold a union election on June 18, after the institution declined to voluntarily recognize their Art Workers Union. | Hyperallergic

Pierre Bonnard, “Après-midi au jardin (Afternoon in the Garden)” (1891), oil and pen and ink on canvas, Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant (image courtesy Phillips Collection)

Washington, DC’s Phillips Collection has acquired a major collection of Nabi art, including two portfolios and more than 40 paintings and works on paper. The gift comes from Roger Sant and his late wife Vicki, a former trustee at the museum. The Nabis were a group of European artists in the late 19th century who were inspired by Paul Gauguin, and this collection includes works by Félix Vallotton, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Maurice Denis, among others.

This and other notable sales and acquisitions are chronicled in our latest Transactions story.

Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one contemporary queer artist per day as part of a series, Queer Artists in Their Own Words.

Opportunities

Eyebeam’s 2020 Residency Open Call asks applicants, “How do acts of refusal manifest in one’s life and work poetically or directly?” Individual or collaborative projects are welcome to apply to create experimental, interdisciplinary works that fuse art and technology. The residency will run from January 2020 through June 2020, with a $22,000 stipend offered to all residents. Applications are due June 21. | Eyebeam

Learn about other opportunities you can apply for this month in our latest “Opportunities for Artists in June 2019.”

This Week in the Art World

The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) announced the recipients of 2019’s China and Hong Kong Fellowships. Nikita Cai, Chen Li, Yu Ji; Birdhead, Gu Jiani, and Sun Shimeng are the 2019 China fellows. Au Hoi Lam, Enoch Cheng, Mak Kai Chung (Mike Orange), Wayson Poon, Lau Ho Chi, and Thomas Hung are this year’s Hong Kong fellows. | Artforum

Jo Baer is now represented by Pace Gallery. | via email announcement

Amada Cruz was appointed director of the Seattle Art Museum. | Seattle Art Museum

Rochelle Feinstein is now represented by Sperone Westwater Gallery. | ARTnews

Richard Flood, the New Museum’s director of special projects and curator at large, has retired. | ARTnews

Goodman Gallery will open a space in London this fall. | via email announcement

Russell Granet was appointed president & CEO of the New 42nd Street, a nonprofit theater in New York. | via email announcement

Luzene Hill is the recipient of the Fall 2019 Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists. | via email announcement

Annie Leibovitz is now represented by Hauser & Wirth. | The Art Newspaper

Susan Meiselas was awarded the inaugural Women in Motion Award. | WWD

Gagosian will open its 17th gallery, in Basel, Switzerland. | ARTnews

The Gordon Parks Foundation is now represented by Alison Jacques. | via email announcement

Chakshu Patel was named director of institutional advancement at the Studio Museum in Harlem. | via email announcement

James R. Wehn was named the Van Vleck Curator of works on paper at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. | ARTnews

Rein Wolfs is the new director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. | New York Times

Daisy Youngblood is now represented by Van Doren Waxter Gallery. | ARTnews

In Memoriam

Patricia Battin (1929–2019), librarian who pioneered digitization | NYT

Yannick Bellon (1924–2019), feminist filmmaker | NYT

Bushwick Bill (1966–2019), rapper and record producer | Vulture

Lewis B. Cullman (1919–2019), investment banker and arts patron | AV Press

Terese Hayden (1921–2019), creator of the Players’ Guide to help actors find work | AV Press

Joyce Pensato in her studio (photo by Jennifer Samet for Hyperallergic)

Jiggs Kalra (1947–2019), food writer | Business Times

Mary Max (1966–2019), wife of the pop artist Peter Max | NYT

Velvel Pasternak (1933–2019), musicologist who preserved Hasidic tradition | NYT

Joyce Pensato (1941–2019), painter known for her interpretations of pop culture cartoon figures | Artforum

Murray Polner (1928–2019), editor and writer | NY Daily News

Mac Rebennack (1941–2019), New Orleans musician | Rolling Stone

Tsuruko Yamazaki (1925–2019), founding member of the Gutai Art Association, an avant-garde multidisciplinary and performance art collective | Artforum