The Art Newspaper profiles the recently closed Off Biennale Budapest, a response to the right-leaning Hungarian Government’s interference in the selection and promotion of the city’s arts institutions. “Cultural institutions are losing their autonomous position,” warns Tijana Stepanović, one of the event’s lead curators. (more…)
The Tate is receiving an additional £6 million in funding from the British Government this year, earmarked to help fund the operations at the Tate Modern. “Late last year the government in principle committed to an uplift in grant-in-aid to support the running of the new Tate Modern,” a Museum spokesman confirms. (more…)
The Iranian government has adopted a new policy using billboards in Tehran to exhibit classic works of art rather than the usual consumer products and political slogans. “It’s pretty exciting. It’s wonderful to see billboard ads of laundry machines or big corporate banks being replaced by a Rembrandt or a Cézanne or a Picasso, what better than that?” says journalist Sadra Mohaqeq. “For 10 days, people have time off from the usual billboard ads just promoting consumerism. It is going to affect people’s visual taste in a positive manner.” (more…)
Jenny Holzer, I was called (2013), via Art Observed
Running in conjunction with the events of the Biennale, and fittingly tying itself to themes of political action and structural instability, Venice’s Museo Correr is opening a new exhibition of works by the artist Jenny Holzer, focusing on the artist’s recent explorations into the aesthetic underpinnings of U.S. interrogation policy, declassified military and governmental documents, and other visual devices of the political war machine. Titled War Paintings, the exhibition is a welcome examination of the artist’s most recent body of work, a stark departure from previous practice that still feels appropriate in the context of her career. (more…)
Tania Brugera is one of the 2015 Herb Alpert Award recipients this year, but is unable to attend the awards ceremony, due to the revocation of her passport by the Cuban government. “The Alpert Award could not come at a better moment,” the artist wrote in a statement to the organization. “The Cuban government does not like my artworks because I’m proposing that our relationship with politics is one where the script is not written for us, but is something we create with responsibility and honesty out of the desire to engage in our political destiny.” (more…)
As President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft actions continue, the Chinese Government is looking for additional ways to crack down on corruption in its party hierarchy, with a main target being art and literary prizes. “The ministry of culture will carry out a comprehensive rectification of literary and art awards. A number of awards will be cancelled or streamlined, with an overall reduction of more than 60 per cent,” the Communist Party said in a statement. (more…)
Controversy has struck at the Venice Biennale this year, after the Kenyan government officially denounced its national pavilion at the exhibition this year, and accused the curators awarded to the space of misrepresenting themselves as affiliated with the nation’s arts community while presenting a predominantly Chinese body of artists. “We hereby declare that the artists are in no way Kenyan,” a statement from the Kenyan government states. “Neither through birth nor naturalization and have no business using OUR NAME or flying OUR FLAG at the art Olympics. We demand that the government act by not only stopping the use of the Kenyan name and flying of the Kenyan flag at the Venice Biennale but also demanding the false information be pulled down from all publicity material including the Venice Biennale website.” (more…)
The Battersea Arts Center has received a £1 million grant from the United Kingdom following a massive fire at the South London institution that destroyed its Grand Hall. “The arts center is having to divert all its available resources into dealing with the aftermath and so I am pleased to be able to confirm that the government will provide £1 million towards the ongoing redevelopment work to help get this south London venue back on track,” says Culture secretary Sajid Javid. (more…)
Two separate directors for major UK museums have spoken out this week in the run-up to the country’s general elections, condemning current cultural funding cuts, and its effects, describing them as “severe.” “Austerity is killing many local museums,” says David Anderson, director general of National Museum Wales. “There is an urgent need for additional funding. The cultural funding model we have is failing.” (more…)
Despite improved relations between the United States and Cuba, the Art Newspaper notes that the island’s government still refuses to return art seized by the government from exiles during the 1960’s. “In most of the articles you read about missing art in Cuba, the question is—where is the piece? That’s not my issue. I know where it is, I just can’t get to it. There’s no method of my claimed ownership being adjudicated,” says Javier Garcia-Bengochea, who claims Francesco Guardi’s View of the Lagoon between the Fondamenta Nuove and Murano was seized from a family member’s home. The painting now sits in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, with no success in getting the Cuban government to return it. (more…)
Following her arrest over a performance in Havana, Tania Bruguera has claimed that Cuban authorities are closely following her every movement. “I can move around Havana, but I have a car following me everywhere I go,” the artist tells the Miami New Times. “I know they are listening to my calls, because recently, during a phone conversation with a friend, I mentioned I was going to pass out fliers that the government might find alarming. Then, 20 minutes later, a government blogger wrote, ‘Tania is on her way to distribute inflammatory leaflets here.'” (more…)
A canvas by 17th Century French artist Claude Lorrain is the subject of a recent export ban placed by UK Minister of Culture Ed Vaizey, while the government seeks to find a buyer to keep the painting in the country. “It is of outstanding beauty and it would be tremendous to see it permanently on display in a UK gallery where it can be appreciated by all,” Vaizey said. (more…)
The French Senate and parliament have passed a new bill this week cutting the nation’s VAT rate on French artwork nearly in half, from 10% to 5.5%. The bill, proposed by Socialist party member David Assouline, should have a major impact on the sale of French art, and targets what he considers “a ludicrous situation that penalizes the French scene and does not correspond to any economic logic.” (more…)
Artist Tania Bruguera has been detained in Cuba, following the performance of an art piece designed to test the U.S.’s resolve to renew diplomatic ties with a country known for censoring free speech. Bruguera was arrested as she walked towards Havana’s Revolution Square, and is currently being held by the government. (more…)
Sam Durant, Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington D.C. (2005), via LACMA
After its entry to LACMA’s permanent collection in 2013, Sam Durant’s Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington D.C. is on view for the first time at its permanent home. Durant has always been strongly tied to the historical and social dynamics in America, and the artist’s ongoing work with the flux of history and spatial politics perhaps reached an apex with this installation. (more…)
Jenny Holzer, Presently in the United States (2014) via Emily Heinz for Art Observed
On view now at Cheim & Read through October 25th, 2014, Dust Paintings is a series of recent paintings by Jenny Holzer, an artist known primarily for her use of language and political investigation. Culled from the ongoing use of political documents from 2004, months after the United States and United Kingdom instigated the invasion of Iraq, Holzer makes a comprehensive “map”, of sorts, from linguistics to action; from intention to execution, stressing importance and the power of language, while providing a kind of physical and aesthetic proof of this idea.
The Philippine government has seized 15 paintings, including works Monet and Van Gogh, from the former home of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, part of an official effort to secure a body of artworks from the politician’s accumulated wealth. “The position of the government is this is part of ill-gotten wealth and should be returned to the government and the people,” says Andres Bautista, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government. (more…)
An anti-drug trade law blocking anonymous cash purchases and requiring more federal oversight on high-worth transactions in Mexico has had a stifling effect on the country’s art galleries, preventing the anonymous purchases that are often the norm at the high end of the market. “This has obviously affected the sales. Because there are people who are afraid, and they say, ‘I’m going to wait,’ or, ‘I don’t want to buy,’ ” says auction house director, Luis C. Lopez Morton. “They feel uncomfortable. They feel that the government is watching them.” (more…)
The country of Portugal will ultimately sell its collection of 85 Joan Miró works, after a national court overturned the ruling banning their sale. With over $110 billion in debt, the European nation will seek to alleviate its financial burden by selling the series of works originally in the Banco Português de Negócios collection. (more…)
An article in the Washington Post this week highlights one favorable effect of the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s merger with the National Gallery: permanently free admission to the museum collection. As of today, the merger is official, making the Corcoran collection part of the National Gallery, and open to all visitors. (more…)
As the final details of Detroit’s bankruptcy plan begin to take shape, bond insurer Syncora (the same group that slapped the Detroit Institute of Arts with a massive subpoena months ago) has filed a formal objection over the management of out-of-court settlements in the city’s exit from bankruptcy. The complaint, filed this week, stated that chief mediator Gerald Rosen made several statements that he felt it was his duty to get the best possible deal for Detroit’s pensioners, rather than maintain impartial judgements in the settlements. (more…)
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed Municipal ID card plan has added benefits from the city’s art museums. A plan currently underway with the Mayor’s office would offer free membership at The Met to card holders, and shows the city’s reliance on the impact these institutions have on the city. “The city’s coming to us and saying, ‘Will you help solve this?’ ” said Susan Lacerte, executive director of the Queens Botanical Garden. “It recognizes that we have great constituencies, we have reach in the communities.” (more…)
US Museums are joining forces with the Syrian Interim Government’s Heritage Task Force to assist in the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage against the tide of its ongoing civil war, training civilians in preservation techniques and strategies for securing important art objects and artifacts. “Local communities are best equipped to identify heritage in need of preservation and protection, and this is precisely what is happening in Syria,” says Richard Leventhal, the executive director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. (more…)
The Art Newspaper takes a look at Bill de Blasio’s record in the past with the arts, and speculates where on his list of priorities the arts will fall during his time as Mayor, noting his record of support for smaller public institutions. “Under Bloomberg, well-established institutions tended to be favored,” consultant Adrian Ellis says. Now, “those smaller organizations further from Manhattan may see an increase in their funding and their priority.” (more…)
