A piece in the New York Times charts how the impacts of the coronavirus might alter the face of future art events like Biennials. “We’re going through something we have never seen,” says Manuela Moscoso, curator of the Liverpool Biennial. “Coronavirus arrived in several waves: first the virus, and then all the different realizations of what it means.” (more…)
The Willem de Kooning Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Teiger Foundation, and the Cy Twombly Foundation have partnered on a grant project to supply $1,250,000 in aid to Tri-State non-salaried workers in the visual arts who have experienced financial hardship from lack of income or opportunity as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis. (more…)
Germano Celant, the Italian curator who coined the term “arte povera” and enervated the landscape of post-war contemporary art, has passed away at 79 of COVID-19-related causes. Celant was instrumental in pioneering the Italian post-war landscape, and worked for years at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Fondazione Prada in Milan. (more…)
BP will not judge this year’s portrait award at London’s National Portrait Gallery, The Guardian reports. “The judging panel is refreshed each year to ensure new perspectives are brought to judge the entries,” says a gallery spokesperson. “The gallery and BP jointly agreed not to have a sponsor representative on the judging panel this year.” (more…)
The art world is getting back to business in Seoul, as galleries open with new measures in place to protect against COVID-19. “I wouldn’t say things are totally back to normal,” says gallerist Passion Lim of Lehmann Maupin. “But it’s a start.” (more…)
Art Basel is making preparations in case its future fairs are cancelled or affected by COVID-19, with adjustments to exhibitor fees and other concessions to improve the company’s flexibility. “We resolutely believe that physical interactions will remain essential to experiencing, discovering, and selling art in the future, as well as to building the paramount personal relationships that underpin the art world,” reads a letter from the company. “Right now, though, the challenge that Art Basel faces is determining how we can help to sustain our galleries until our fairs recommence, alongside trying to imagine and define how the art fair of the future might differ from that of the past.” (more…)
Museums in Belgium and Italy are aiming to reopen this May, Art Newspaper reports. “Museums are like parks; spaces in which the individual experience can intertwine with the public space of being together. In the coming months, as a society, we face the challenge to find a new, positive balance between personal freedom and care for our relationship with others,” says Bart De Baere, head of Antwerp’s The Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst. (more…)
The Met has announced a string of layoffs this week as COVID-19 related losses now push past $150 million. “While we are not immune from the impact of this pandemic, the Met is a strong and enduring institution and will remain one,” says president and CEO Daniel Weiss. “Our two primary objectives continue to be doing all that we can to support the health and safety of our community and to protect the long-term financial health of the Museum.”
Dike Blair, Untitled (2020), via Karma. The gallery is hosting a show of the artist’s work in its Online Viewing Rooms
As the weeks progress and institutions remain shuttered over COVID-19 concerns, many arts organizations are responding with online virtual education programming related to the arts, often accessible globally at no cost. Art Observed has compiled a selection of these resources, from online classes and exhibitions to panel discussions and online interviews. There has perhaps been no better time to develop and hone one’s skills, as regards both creating and appreciating art, and through these links, Art Observed hopes to enable its readers to branch out, exploring new concepts and skills from the safety of their homes, while helping to relieve some of the pressures and tedium of social distancing.
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Dustin Yellin and Vik Muniz Converse on Instagram Live, via Art Observed
This week, artists Dustin Yellin and Vik Muniz sat down this week on Art Observed’s Instagram Live channel to discuss art, the current state of the world, and share insights into their practice. The full interview is now up on our Instagram channel. (more…)
Frieze New York has announced it will host online viewing rooms in lieu of its cancelled May event. “The Viewing Room will offer users the ability to virtually view artworks, such as paintings or photographs, to-scale and upon their own walls,” a statement reads. “Audiences will also be able to view video art and narrative content, and search for works by artist, price, medium, gallery and section, amongst other fields.” (more…)
A piece in the Boston Globe charts the impacts of COVID-19 on the Berkshires, where the arts have become a central economic driver, and which are now threatened by a shuttered cultural sector. (more…)
The Comité professionnel des galeries d’art, France’s trade organization for art galleries, notes that one third of all French galleries could be permanently shuttered due to the impacts of coronavirus. “I have not heard of one sale since mid-March,” says committee chair Marion Papillon, who chairs the committee. “Fairs will also have to adapt. There is no way they can apply the same conditions considering the decrease of activity which is predictable in the next years”. (more…)
Pace Gallery has furloughed 25 employees in New York over lost income due to COVID-19-related closures. “I’m kind of in limbo,” one worker says. “I’m receiving one more paycheck from Pace, and hopefully that will help me pay next month’s rent. Then we will see what happens next.” (more…)
The Guggenheim is facing a $10 million budget shortfall, resulting in announced furloughs and cuts to employee benefits. “The near- and long-term financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Museum’s fiscal well-being is profound,” says director Richard Armstrong. “This decision did not come easily.” (more…)
Christie’s has been ordered to pay a fine of up to to $16.7 million for failing to collect sales tax on purchases. The fine follows an extensive investigation of the company’s tax practices, particularly its private sales arm and overseas branches. (more…)
A new report from the Center for an Urban Future charts the impacts of coronavirus on small arts orgs, surveying a broad range of venues and galleries on the impacts that pandemic-related closures and cancellations are causing. “Small, community-based arts venues are the cultural lifeblood of New York City and cities around the world. But unlike larger institutions and museums, few smaller cultural groups have the benefit of endowments or large donor bases to help cushion the blow as they experience staggering declines in revenue,” says Eli Dvorkin, Editorial & Policy Director, Center for an Urban Future. “Without immediate financial support to offset these losses, there’s a real danger that many of these organizations will not make it to the other side of this crisis. And the loss to our collective cultural lives is incalculable.” (more…)
The Whitney Museum has laid off 76 employees in response to budget pressure over COVID-19 related closures. “These are painful difficult times,” said President Adam Weinberg. “I want you to know I am grateful to all of you for everything you have done.” (more…)
The New York Botanical Garden has rescheduled its blockbuster show of works by Yayoi Kusama. The show will now take place in 2021. (more…)
The Met will pay all employees through May, as coronavirus closures continue, the New York Times reports. “Our highest priority remains to support our staff as best we can in helping to keep everyone safe and as financially secure as possible,” says president and CEO Daniel Weiss. “We realize that this announcement of a four-week extension of full salary support does not provide enduring comfort, but at the moment it is the best we can do in a rapidly evolving situation.” (more…)
Hans Ulrich Obrist has called for a massive public arts program to help jumpstart the arts economy again after the impact of coronavirus, likening the idea to the Great Depression’s WPA. “With the WPA, they went out into the community: artists got salaries and were able to research and create work during the New Deal era. It gave many people their first real jobs and commissions,” he says. (more…)
