Eddie Arroyo, “May 17th, 2019, 7:19 PM (2019)”, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36 in. (courtesy of Spinello Projects)
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.
After months of protest, an emerging biennial boycott, and an accusation of war crimes, Warren Kanders has resigned from his position as vice chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s board of trustees. “The targeted campaign of attacks against me and my company that has been waged these past several months has threatened to undermine the important work of the Whitney,” said Kanders in his resignation letter to the board. “I joined this board to help the museum prosper. I do not wish to play a role, however inadvertent, in its demise.” | Hyperallergic
In the week prior to Kanders’s resignation, eight artists had announced their intention to withdraw their work from 2019 Whitney Biennial: Korakrit Arunanondchai, Eddie Arroyo, Meriem Bennani, Nicole Eisenman, Nicholas Galanin, Christine Sun Kim, Agustina Woodgate, and Forensic Architecture. Following the news of Kanders’s resignation, the artists have asked the biennial curators to no longer remove their work from the galleries. | Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic
Forensic Architecture says it has found a bullet linking Kanders to violence in Gaza. After a weekly Friday protest in mid-July, one of the group’s researchers says that she found an unexploded open-tip bullet in the sand surrounding the Al-Bureji protest camp near the border. The bullet was intact and largely matches the open-source analysis that Forensic Architecture has already conducted on the types of ammunitions Sierra Bullets manufactures. | Hyperallergic
Protests against governor Ricardo Rosselló in San Juan, Puerto Rico (courtesy Frances Negrón-Muntaner)
According to a report by the Nation, some of the tear gas used against demonstrators in Puerto Rico is manufactured by Safariland Group, a company helmed by Warren Kanders. On Wednesday, July 24, after two weeks of sustained and unprecedentedly large protests on the island, Ricardo Rosselló announced his resignation in a statement posted online. | Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic
France’s current heatwave poses a threat the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral. “What I fear is that the joints or the masonry, as they dry, lose their coherence, their cohesion and their structural qualities and that all of sudden, the vault gives way,” Chief Architect Philippe Villeneuve told Reuters. | Reuters
Performance artist Pope.L is seeking more than 100 volunteers to participate in his largest performance yet, “Conquest.” | Hyperallergic
Workers at the British Museum in London issued a public statement expressing their solidarity with former museum trustee, Ahdaf Soueif, who recently resigned from the board due to the museum’s endorsement of the oil company BP, its silence on the restitution of cultural artifacts, and labor issues. | Hyperallergic
Three shareholders have filed claims against Sotheby’s auction house following the announcement that the company would be acquired by French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi for $3.7 billion. | artnet News
The Portland Museum of Art (PMA) won a $4.6 million in a lawsuit on Monday, July 22, after a jury determined that a caretaker had unlawfully dissuaded a wealthy woman from bequeathing a large donation to the museum after her death. The former caretaker will appeal the decision. | Hyperallergic
NASA, “Original, First-Generation NASA Videotape Recordings of the Apollo 11 Lunar EVA” (1969) (image courtesy Sotheby’s)
The Sotheby’s Space Race Auction — comprised of photographs, tapes, models, and other pieces of NASA memorabilia from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions of the ’50s, ’60s, and early ’70s crested to a total of $5.5 million. The sale was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and was led by the “Best Surviving NASA Videotape Recordings of
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing” (1969), which sold for $1.82 million to an anonymous buyer. Recorded in the evening on July 20, 1969, the three reels of 2-inch Quadruplex videotape have only been played back three times since 1976 and are the sharpest, clearest known recordings of the historic event.
This and other notable sales and acquisitions are chronicled in our latest Transactions story.
Opportunities
The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco is seeking applicants for its Emerging Artists Program, a call for artists to submit a solo exhibition proposal of their work. Three final artists will be selected to present a 3-month exhibition of their work. The application deadline is August 5. | MoAD
Learn about other opportunities you can apply for this month in our latest “Opportunities for Artists in July 2019.”
This Week in the Art World
Gina Beavers, “Nude with Painter’s Lips” (2019), Acrylic and foam on canvas on panel with wood frame, 31 x 31 x 8 inches. (Courtesy the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. Copyright Gina Beavers.)
Gina Beavers is now represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery. | via email announcement
Bronwyn Bevan has was named the Wallace Foundation‘s director of research. | via email announcement
The selected artists for Black Rock 2019-20, an arts residency founded by Kehinde Wiley, are Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Laurence Bonvin, Sonya Clark, Yagazie Emezi, Nona Faustine, Devin B. Johnson, Heather Jones, Grace Lynne, Zanoxolo Sylvester Mqeku, Kelechi Njoku, Chelsea Odufu, Kambui Olujimi, Zohra Opoku, Rafael RG, Tajh Rust, and Ytasha Womack. | via email announcement
Peter S. Briggs, Jaime DeSimone, Polly Nordstrand, Catherine Taft, and Olga Viso were named the Warhol Foundation‘s spring 2019 curatorial research fellows. They will each receive $50,000 to develop new exhibitions. | Artforum
Ed Clark is now represented by Hauser & Wirth. | Hauser & Wirth
Bethany Collins and Brendan Fernandes are the winners of Chicago’s $10,000 Artadia Awards. | Artforum
The Getty Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2019 Keeping It Modern grants to support international architectural conservation projects. | Artforum
Dakota Hoska was appointed assistant curator of the Native Arts department at the Denver Art Museum. | via email announcement
Emma Lavigne was named the first female president of Paris’s Palais de Tokyo. | ARTnews
Mary Mary Gallery in Glasgow has closed after 13 years. | Instagram
M Woods museum in Beijing’s 798 Art Districtwill open a second space in the city’s Longfusi neighborhood. | The Art Newspaper
Alex Potter is the recipient of the2019 Inge Morath Award, awarded by Magnum Photos and the Inge Morath Estate. | via email announcement
The Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation in Portland, Maine has announced the winners of its $50,000 grants for visual arts journalists: Mariela Fullana Acosta, Taylor Renee Aldridge, Sarah Hotchkiss, Cara Ober, Kristina Kay Robinson, Andrew Russeth, Jennifer Shapland, and Catherine G. Wagley. | ARTnews
Vaughn Spann is now represented by Almine Rech. | via email announcement
Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) in Cape Town has appointed Storm Janse van Rensburg senior curator, and Tandazani Dhlakama as assistant curator. | Artforum
In Memoriam
Julia Farron (1922–2019), acclaimed ballerina | NYT
Rutger Hauer (1944–2019), actor, writer, and environmentalist | Variety
George Hodgman (1959–2019), author and editor | Daily Beast
Roslisham Ismail (1972–2019), artist better known as Ise, founder of Malaysian artist’s space Parking Project, co-founder of the art publication sentAp! | Art Asia Pacific
Paul Krassner (1932–2019), writer, comedian, political activist, and figurehead of the “Yippie” counterculture movement | Chicago Sun Times
Marisa Merz (1926–2019), Arte Povera sculptor | artnet News
Art Neville (1937–2019), New Orleans funk singer, songwriter, and keyboardist | NOLA
Cesar Pelli (1926–2019), architect | Curbed
Aaron Rosand (1927–2019), violinist | Philadelphia Inquirer
Russell Smith (1949–2019), country-rock singer-songwriter and rhythm guitarist | NYT
Hugh Southern (1932–2019), former executive director of Theatre Development Fund and co-creator of TKTS booths | Playbill
Ida Wyman (1926–2019), documentary photographer | Forward
