Art Movements
This week in art news: Ai Weiwei's new refugee-themed artworks and actions drew sharp criticism, Spain ruled that an alleged accomplice in the Knoedler Gallery affair can be extradited to the US, and the Metropolitan Museum defended its widely ridiculed new logo.
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Ai Weiwei covered the façade of Berlin’s Konzerthaus with 14,000 lifejackets used by refugees who travelled from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. Ai’s continued efforts to draw upon the refugee crisis in his work has been met with increasing criticism and disdain. The artist encouraged guests at the annual Cinema for Peace gala — which was held at the Konzerthaus — to pose in emergency thermal blankets for a photo op, an action described as “obscene” by Berlin’s culture senator Tim Renner.
Spain’s National Court ruled that Jesus Angel Bergantinos Diaz, the businessman charged with involvement in the sale of fake paintings to the Knoedler Gallery, can be extradited to the United States.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled a new logo and, following widespread criticism, issued a statement defending it.
Eight curators and critics resigned from the selection committee of Russia’s Innovatsiya (Innovation) Prize — four of them temporarily — after Pyotr Pavlensky‘s name was removed from the visual art category. The artist is currently awaiting a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation at the Serbsky Center following a performance last November in which he set fire to the entrance of the Federal Security Service’s Moscow headquarters.
Sophie Ryder‘s 20-foot sculpture, “The Kiss,” was relocated to a different position outside Salisbury Cathedral. According to the artist, the sculpture was moved “because people were walking through texting and said they bumped their heads!”
Bushwick Open Studios will be held in October instead of June this year.
The Cabaret Voltaire theater, the birthplace of the Dada movement, is seeking $13.1 million to secure its space.
A group of protestors associated with the Rhodes Must Fall movement burned artworks taken from buildings on the University of Cape Town’s campus.
According to its founder, Marc Restellini, the Paris Pinacotheque will close following a dramatic fall in visitor attendance.
The Design and Artists Copyright Society published a report to celebrate 10 years of the Artist’s Resale Right in the UK. Since 2006, DACS has distributed over £46.9 million (~$67.6 million) in royalties to more than 3,900 artists and artists’ estates.
A number of retired NYPD officers objected to the display of an art work by a middle schooler at the Suffolk County Courthouse. The drawing, which is part of a display dedicated to Black History Month, reads “Stop The Violence. Black Lives Matter. Stop The Racism.”
The FBI is working with the Burns Paiute Tribe to assess the damage caused to artifacts and sacred burial grounds by the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
According to Ministry of Communications spokesman Ismail Cawidu, the Indonesian government is seeking to remove gay-friendly emoji from the popular messaging service WhatsApp.
A lawsuit filed by the widow of Fredy Aguirre, the ironworker who died while renovating Larry Gagosian’s Upper East Side mansion last year, alleges that basic safety rules were violated at the property.
Chicago’s Marina City complex was given landmark status.
Three women were arrested for stealing furniture from the Le Corbusier Center at Chandigarh.
The South Street Seaport Museum‘s Street of Ships: The Port and its People will open on March 16 — the first exhibition held at the museum since it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
German politician Hans-Jörg Jenewein suggested that Vienna’s Kunstforum Wien should provide a warning notice for its upcoming Balthus exhibition. “Throughout his work there is an inherent and unpleasant Paedophile undertone,” Jenewein said.
A vandal threw a wrench through Flux Factory‘s front window. The Queens-based nonprofit is currently seeking tax-deductible donations for a replacement.
The fourth edition of the Paris Photo Los Angeles fair was cancelled.
The Melbourne Art Fair was cancelled after three galleries withdrew.
Hawaii’s surf temporarily exposed petroglyphs thought to be hundreds of years old.
Researchers determined the original hues of two versions of Vincent van Gogh‘s “Bedroom in Arles” using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.
At least 92 medieval skeletons have been discovered below the Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Transactions
Billionaire Ken Griffin reportedly paid around $500 million for two Abstract Expressionist paintings. A source told Bloomberg that Griffin purchased Willem de Kooning’s “Interchange” (1955) for around $300 million, which if true, may exceed the record for a private art sale set by the purchase of Paul Gauguin’s “When Will You Marry?” (1892) last year.
The National Park service announced a major renovation of the Lincoln Memorial. The project will largely be funded by a $18.5 million contribution from billionaire David M. Rubenstein.
Sweden’s Nationalmuseum acquired three paintings: a nude by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and two paintings by his pupil Ludvig August Smith.
James F. Goldstein donated the Sheats-Goldstein House (1963) to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The property, which was designed by architect John Lautner, features prominently in The Big Lebowski (1998).
Rosita LeSueur Tovell bequeathed $1.1 million to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Transitions
Prince Charles became the first Royal Patron of London’s National Gallery.
The inaugural Honolulu Biennial will open in March 2017.
Alabama’s Birmingham Museum of Art promoted its chief curator, Graham C. Boettcher, to the position of deputy director. Decorative arts curator, Anne Forschler-Tarrasch, was appointed to the role of chief curator.
José Carlos Diaz was appointed curator of art at the Andy Warhol Museum.
Dan Handel was appointed curator of design and architecture at the Israel Museum.
Susie J. Silbert was appointed curator of modern and contemporary glass at the Corning Museum of Glass.
Melanie Clore will step down as Sotheby’s chairman of Europe and co-chairman of Impressionist and Modern art worldwide at the end of the month.
Lauri Firstenberg, the director of LAXART, will step down from her position at the end of the month.
Scott Howe will leave his position as deputy director of the Parrish Art Museum to become executive director of the Animal Rescue Fund.
The Guggenheim Museum and Foundation announced a string of new appointments.
The Georgia Museum of Art appointed Heather Malcom as director of development and Keith Thalhamer as director of security and facilities.
The Queens Council on the Arts will move to a new location in Long Island City, Queens.
Pace Gallery will open a new space at 537 West 24th Street with a show of work by Tom Hawkinson.
Broadway 1602 will open its new space in Harlem in May.
Chaplin’s World, a museum dedicated to the actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, will open in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey later this year.
Accolades
Warren Richardson‘s picture of refugees crossing the border from Serbia into Hungary last August was named the World Press Photo of the Year 2015.
Fourteen Chicago arts organizations received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
The Rauschenberg Foundation selected five writers for its pilot writing fellowship.
Mark Bradford was awarded the 2016 David C. Driskell Prize.
Obituaries
Christopher Brooke (1927–2015), medieval historian.
Melvin Day (1923–2016), artist.
Umberto Eco (1932–2016), author and philosopher.
Charles Garabedian (1923–2016), artist.
Roy Harris (1933–2016), folk singer.
Nelle Harper Lee (1926–2016), author of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) and Go Set a Watchman (2015).
Diogo Seixas Lopes (1972–2016), architect.
Warren Manzi (1955–2016), playwright. Author of Perfect Crime (1987), Broadway’s longest-running play.
Denise Matthews, aka Vanity (1959–2016), singer, model, and actress.
Kikuo Saito (1939–2016), artist.
Michael Sheringham (1948–2016), scholar and critic.
Anthony Simmons (1922–2016), film director and writer.
Steven Stucky (1949–2016), Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.
Peter Wood (1925–2016), theater director.
David Weinrib (1924–2016), artist.
Cornelis Zitman (1926–2016), artist.
Andrzej Żuławski (1940–2016), filmmaker.
