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.
Culture in NYC
As the June 22 NYC mayoral primary draws near, Hyperallergic rounded up the top six contenders and summarized their priorities for the cultural sector.
NYC will distribute $5,000 grants to over 3,000 artists as part of the City Artist Corps, a WPA-inspired initiative addressing the devastating toll the pandemic has had on the cultural sector.
A program organized by Museum Hue, the Laundromat Project, and Hester Street will map POC-led NYC arts organizations to encourage equity in the cultural sector.
The Met Museum partnered with Citymeals on Wheels to deliver monthly art-making kits to over 1,000 seniors in New York.
Strike MoMA
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill is the first artist to withdraw from Museum of Modern Art events in solidarity with Strike MoMA protesters.
Hyperallergic reporter Hakim Bishara accompanied two Strike MoMA protesters on their journey from Queens to Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art for an insider view of the weekly protests.
Artists nominated MoMA as an “at-risk cultural heritage site” to the World Monuments Fund, citing several MoMA board members for their connections to “gentrification and displacement,” “extractivism and environmental degradation,” and more.
In Other News
The first-ever NFT, minted by artist Kevin McCoy, sold at Sotheby’s for $1.4 million.
Kara Walker, Nan Goldin, and over 16,000 artists, musicians, and more voiced solidarity with Palestine in a “Letter Against Apartheid.”
The Detroit Institute of Arts is facing backlash over a mural that depicts a group of police officers holding hands against the background of the US flag. Artists including Dawoud Bey, Jordan Casteel, and Kevin Beasley criticized the institution’s partnership on the mural, which has been labeled as pro-cop by many.
New machine learning technology can match ancient pottery fragments by rapidly sorting thousands of fragmented pottery designs into differing stylistic categories.
Awards & Accolades
- Lulani Arquette and Roberto Bedoya were awarded the 2021 Berresford Prize by United States Artists.
- Koral Carballo, Roopa Gogineni, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Daniella Zalcman were named 2021 CatchLight fellows.
Transitions
- Joy Bivins was named director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
- Allison Glenn, Diya Vij, Dream the Combine, New Red Order, and Risa Puelo have been selected to curate the second Counterpublic triennial in St. Louis.
- Loren Rothschild will retire from the board of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, becoming trustee Emeritus.
- Legacy Russell was appointed executive director and chief curator of the Kitchen.
- Portia Zvavahera is now represented by David Zwirner gallery.
- Jeffrey Gibson, Julie Tolentino, Torrey Peters, Alexis De Veaux, Will Rawls, and Constantina Zavitsanos have joined the Queer|Art|Mentorship program as new mentors.
In Memoriam
- Gottfried Böhm (1920–2021), Brutalist architect | Wallpaper*
- Violetta Elvin (1923–2021), dancer with Britain’s Royal Ballet | New York Times
- Geri Hooks (1935–2021), Houston art gallery owner | Glasstire
- Cornelia Oberlander (1921–2021), landscape architect | New York Times
- Clarence Williams III (1939–2021), actor | Washington Post
