The 2018 Montreal Biennale has been canceled due to a lack of funding, the Art Newspaper reports. The previous exhibition suffered from major budgetary issues, despite critical praise. “General management was not their forte,”chairman of the board, Cédric Bisson said of the Biennale’s executive and artistic director Sylvie Fortin and her team.
Artist Alex Israel will release SPF-18, the feature-length teen surf film he directed, this fall, Art News reports. “It’s an artwork for teenagers, who watch movies at school, on iTunes, and on Netflix,” Israel says. “Distributing it through their channels is key, and I can’t wait for our high school tour. It was great to collaborate with so many incredibly talented people whom I’ve long admired throughout this process.” (more…)
The Art Market Monitor has a studied recap on the current lawsuit between Chinese collectors Lin San and Zhang Chang over the purchase of Gerhard Richter’s Dusenjager. The work was reportedly bought by Zhang Chang and not paid for, resulting in Phillips auction house claiming of the work, before Lin (who loaned the money for another purchase) stepped in with a lawsuit trying to claim the piece. (more…)
The Hammer Museum has added Linda Janger, artist Glenn Kaino and Dean Valentine to its board, Art News reports. The group has a long relationship with the museum, having worked in various capacities with the Hammer over the past years. (more…)
Jeff Koons has created a 40-foot high balloon sculpture for Jay-Z’s upcoming tour, continuing the rapper’s ongoing references and interest in the artist’s work. The work saw its debut at the UK’s V Festival last week. (more…)
A new report published shows that, despite the diversity of New York City’s neighborhoods, the museum boards for its many museums remain overwhelmingly white, the New York Times reports. “It’s not just who you hire,” Tom Finkelpearl, the commissioner of Cultural Affairs says. “Are people then actually involved in the decision making? Is it tokenism or is it something that’s fundamental? In what categories are people’s careers being nurtured and are people being included?” (more…)
Solange Knowles has announced plans to perform a series of compositions in front of Donald Judd’s 15 Untitled Works in Concrete in Marfa, TX. “Donald Judd’s profound work has had tremendous impact on the way in which I see the world,” the artist said in a statement. “I have visited these works at the Chinati in Marfa various times, at landmark moments in my life and am completely and utterly honored to deliver my performance piece, Scales, alongside these phenomenal installations.” (more…)
Artist Ai Weiwei and the Public Art Fund have launched an $80,000 Kickstarter project to fund the erection of fences around New York City, expanding the artist’s original proposal for his piece Fences Make Good Neighbors. “Fences can be used to regulate and detain people, to segregate and to train people to accept the given conditions,” the artist says of his work. (more…)
MoMA PS1 has hired SculptureCenter’s Ruba Katrib as curator, Art News reports. “MoMA PS1 is undoubtedly one of the most influential contemporary art museums today,” she said in a statement, “and I look forward to continuing its legacy of working with artists at crucial points in their careers and introducing them to wider audiences.” (more…)
Documenta 14 is at the center of more political conflict this week, after a far-right German politician attacked a pro-refugee sculpture by Nigerian-born, US-based artist Olu Oguibe. Kassel city council member Thomas Materner, a member of Germany’s far-right AfD party, called the work “ideologically polarizing, disfigured art,” over its message. Curator Adam Szymczyk was reportedly “appalled” by the comments. (more…)
Bulgari is aligning itself with Rome’s Maxxi museum to present a new prize for Italian contemporary arts, WWD reports. “The Premio Maxxi sees Italy at the center of the work of the artists involved,” says Jean Christophe Babin, Bulgari’s chief executive officer. “Supporting a prize that valorizes Italy but with significant international scope is in perfect harmony with the identity and values of a company such as Bulgari,” said Babin. “I am sure that this partnership will give new impetus to the prize.” (more…)
London’s National Gallery has bought Bernardo Bellotto’s The Fortress of Königstein from the North (1756-58) for £11,670,000 following the deferment of an export bar on the work, the Art Newspaper reports. The piece “shows Bellotto as one of the greatest view painters of his time,” according to director Gabriele Finaldi. (more…)
The Exhibitor List for NADA Miami Beach 2017 has been announced, with booths from 108 galleries from 16 different countries, including 23 galleries that have never shown at NADA before. “NADA was founded to fill a void in the art world by providing a community where lesser-known international galleries, emerging artists, artist-run spaces, and both young and established galleries can co-exist,” says NADA director, Heather Hubbs. (more…)
Maurizio Cattelan’s golden toilet work, titled America, will conclude its popular installation run at the Guggenheim Museum on September, exactly one year after it was installed. “When the sculpture comes off view on September 15, [Donald] Trump will have been in office for 238 days, a term marked by scandal and defined by the deliberate rollback of countless civil liberties, in addition to climate-change denial that puts our planet in peril,” curator Nancy Spector says of the piece. (more…)
Donald and Melania Trump will skip this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, the New York Times reports. “In choosing not to participate in this year’s Honors activities,” Kennedy Center leadership, David M. Rubenstein and Deborah F. Rutter, wrote, “the administration has graciously signaled its respect for the Kennedy Center and ensures the Honors gala remains a deservingly special moment for the honorees.” (more…)
The New York Times takes a tour of artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s Chester, N.J home this week, designed by Frank Gehry. ‘‘An artist is like a cook,’’ Cai says, ‘‘who needs not only the dining area but also the kitchen.’’ (more…)
Former Scotland Yard detectives have called on London’s Metropolitan Police to maintain its art crimes investigation, following the reappointment of the division’s detectives to investigating the Grenfell Tower fire. “There’s a point when you have to ask when they’re going to come back,” says Vernon Rapley, former head of the art squad at Scotland Yard. “Temporary can become permanent. They are one of the very few international teams that are able to deal with what are incredibly complex and difficult cases that could not easily be dealt with using normal detectives or officers.” (more…)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby is profiled in W Magazine this month, with a profile tracing the artist’s work and her response to her recent successes. “People expect me to be happy, but it put a spotlight on me in a way I don’t like at all,” she says. “I like operating quietly, on my own, in the background.” (more…)
London collector David Roberts has plans to close his gallery, and open a 20-acre sculpture park in Somerset, west England, Art Newspaper reports.“We’ll still continue to do things in London,” he says. “The sale of the venue, which is funded mainly by me, means we can take on more projects.” (more…)
Artist Yayoi Kusama is opening her own museum in Tokyo, the New York Times reports. The five-story structure has been under construction for some time, but its purpose was just recently confirmed by David Zwirner Gallery. The museum will be directed by Tensei Tatebata, and will feature exhibitions centered around Kusama’s work. (more…)
The Museum of Modern Art will stay open until 9PM on Fridays and Saturdays for the rest of the year, effectively extending its hours of free Friday admission as well. The museum’s late hours will offer extended opportunities for visitors to browse the collection through December 30th. (more…)
A set of drawings found in a London antique shop are believed to be lost works by Alberto Giacometti, The Guardian reports. The works were found while archiving the holdings of antiques dealer Eila Grahame, whose estate records showed some indication that the works might exist, but gave little detail of their contents. “At the time we didn’t know if it was two pieces of paper, two large sketches, whether they were done on the back of a cigarette packet or whether they were done on large canvases,” says Martin Millard, a director at Cheffins auction house, which is in charge of sorting through Grahame’s estate. “We didn’t know what we were looking for.” (more…)
A group of artists have been evicted from their homes and studios in the Caochangdi art district of northeastern Beijing by the Chinese government, Artforum reports. The homes had been slotted for demolition, causing protest and resistance from their residents. (more…)
The Met Museum has a blog post this week on its continued Open Access initiative, noting impressive gains in traffic and engagement with the museum’s collection, which has been uploaded in full to its website. “Overall traffic to the online collection has increased by 17%, image downloads have increased by 64%, and we’re seeing that users who download an image have a significantly stronger engagement with the collection: they spend five times longer on the site, and visit five times more pages,” Digital Officer Loic Tallon writes in the piece. (more…)