Art Movements
This week in art news: Auction companies oppose an appeal rehearing for the California Resale Royalty Act, the British Museum is to be recreated in Minecraft, and a time capsule was discovered in the head of a lion atop the Bostonian Society.
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
Lawyers representing Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and eBay attempted to dissuade the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from rehearing an artist-led appeal related to the California Resale Royalty Act. The CRRA (1976) is the only fine art resale royalty legislation to have ever been enacted in the United States. Its status has been unresolved since a judge deemed the act unconstitutional in 2012.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded over $30 million to 211 U.S. museums and organizations. A complete list of grant recipients can be found here.
New York City has set aside $131 million of its 2015 budget to improve a number of cultural facilities across Brooklyn. Funded institutions include the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the Museum of the Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA).
Deborah Cavendish, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire and the last of the Mitford sisters, passed away. Cavendish played a vital role in revitalizing the historic Chatsworth estate.
A developer’s plan to build dorm rooms on the former site of PS 64 and the Charas/El Bohio community center have been put on hold. The community group renovated the former public school into a rehearsal space and artist studios in 1979, where it quickly became a key fixture of the East Village art scene.
The entirety of the British Museum, including its exhibits, will be recreated in the video game Minecraft. Last week, Microsoft acquired the game for $2.5 billion. Once planning is complete, members of the public will be “recruited” to assist with its virtual construction.
Frescos at the home of Augustus Caesar in Rome are now on public display, following a $3.2 million restoration. Only three fifteen minute tours will run each day in order to ensure the fresco’s protection.
One of Britain’s “ugliest” buildings will join the tour roster of the National Trust, one of the UK’s best known conservation charities. Ernő Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower is considered an exemplar of brutalist architecture.
Victoria Siddall has been appointed the director of the London and New York Frieze art fairs. Founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover are to “focus on developing new projects.”
Sunset Park has topped a list of graffiti related complaints made to New York’s 311 phone hotline. 2014 has so far seen 452 complaints related to the Brooklyn neighborhood, an increase of 255 since last year.
An early work by Banksy was exhibited at a Bristol secondary school, having been hidden under a bed for four years. The husband of an unnamed teacher removed the work from a building site in 2010.
A new festival in Pskov will be named in honor of Soviet dissident writer Sergei Dovlatov.
The International Center of Photography will relocate to the Bowery next year. The ICP’s current building in Midtown will close its doors in January.
Renzo Piano’s building for the Pathé Foundation opened in Paris earlier this month. The architect has described the building’s appearance as akin to “a little animal … trying to go up and breath fresh air.”
Hernan Diaz Alonso is to be the next director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). He will succeed current director Eric Owen Moss next September.
Suzanne Weaver was appointed the director of the new Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami. Weaver took on the role in August, but the news was only made public earlier this week.
Susan Sutton was named the new executive director of Ballroom Marfa.
The Queens Museum’s communication manager, Diya Vij, will join the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The agency is hoping to launch and grow its digital presence.
The shortlist for the 2014 Nam June Paik Award was announced. The nominated artists are Ulf Aminde, Cory Arcangel, Camille Henrot, and (Jon) Thomson & (Alison) Craighead.
A time capsule was discovered in the head of a lion statue atop the Bostonian Society. A fiber optic camera discovered the rumored capsule which dates from 1901. The society is now accepting suggestions for what to include in a new time capsule.
The New York–based collective DIS will curate the ninth Berlin Biennale. The collective is arguably best known for DIS Magazine.
