The Guardian looks at Anish Kapoor’s work with the developers of Vantablack, and the artist’s attempts to utilize the occasionally difficult material in the creation of new work.  “[Vantablack] is very technical. It needs like a furnace – pressure and heat – before this material can do what it does, [which is] become super black,” Kapoor says. “It’s necessarily a collaboration between them and me. I say, ‘C’mon guys – we can make it bigger and we can make it applicable in others ways.’” (more…)

The Guardian sits down with Simon de Pury this week to share his views on the market, working a crowd from the rostrum, and the future of online art sales.  “Information once only accessible to insiders is now accessible to everybody. It has helped the market become easier to navigate,” he says.  “Art sold online will increase a lot over the next few years, especially if you are selling art between $10,000 and $2m – that segment of the market can be sold more effectively through the internet. At the top end, auctioning will continue in the bricks and mortar way.” (more…)

Martos Gallery has moved its project gallery, Shoot the Lobster, into its Los Angeles exhibition space, changing its function from a Martos outpost to a permanent home for Shoot the Lobster.  “After two years of many memorable exhibitions and events, Martos Gallery LA has closed its doors to make way for the second STL project space,” the gallery said. “This space, like its East Coast accomplice, will feature a mix of exhibitions, performances, concerts, pop-ups, and more.” (more…)

The New York Times profiles the work of the K11 Art Foundation this week, and its work in supporting the careers of young Chinese artists both home and abroad.  “The reason so many curators listen to us is because we are not a gallery, we are not dealers, and we do not represent artists — our list is more academic,” says founder Adrian Cheng.

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The French government has pledged $100 million to fund cultural heritage protection in the Middle East, providing resources for preservation, restoration and storage to threatened cultural sites and institutions.  “This mission began a month ago,” says Benoit Paumier, a former official of the Ministry of Culture.   “The point of departure, which shocked the French population, was the destruction of Palmyra by the terrorists. At that point, the president of the republic asked the president of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez, to prepare a report on how the international community could respond to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity.”   (more…)

The British Museum has made a landmark purchase of a group of mint-condition prints by Pablo Picasso, a selection that fills in a gap in the museum’s collection of the artist’s work in the medium.  “This is the last important gap to be filled in the British Museum’s representation of Picasso’s print work,” says Stephen Coppell, curator of the museum’s modern prints and drawings collection. “It is very important that we were able to acquire this work. It is one of the greatest achievements in graphic art.”  (more…)

Guy Wildenstein’s tax evasion trial has begun in Paris, following several delays in the proceedings.  “At that time, there was no law” against the tax havens Wildenstein allegedly used, his lawyer, Herve Temime said in court. “There is therefore an absolute doubt on the very existence of unpaid taxes.” (more…)

Bill Ruprecht has returned to the art world, the WSJ reports, as he chairs the advisory board for the online art venture Invaluable.  “The art world is a hothouse, and I purposefully tried to get a little distance from it,” he told the paper, “but I keep getting drawn back in.” (more…)

Investor Jeffrey Gundlach has made a $42.5 million gift to Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Museum, the largest in the museum’s 154-year history, for a planned expansion project.  “I learned about art by going to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery with my family,” Gundlach says. “It was the place that first opened my eyes and mind to the endless possibilities of art and showed me that Buffalo didn’t just have the potential for greatness, but actually had a museum that was world-class.” (more…)

The Broad Museum has drawn over 820,000 visitors in its first year of operation, according to a report issued by the museum.  “Edye and I could not be more delighted with the public reception to the museum,” Eli Broad says of the report. “Our goal has always been to share our art with the broadest possible public, and our first year has exceeded all of our expectations.” (more…)

The New York Times looks at the career of Zeng Fanzhi, and poses his own development as an artist against the backdrop of China’s market explosion for contemporary art over the past decades, and more recent market crises.  “The art market is something you can’t mess with,” he says.  “Just take it one step at a time, develop slowly, and honestly work together with galleries to sell works to people who actually like art and not to people who are trying to speculate on art. Now that we’ve worked with a lot of international galleries and museums, artists here pretty much get it. It’s not like 2007 anymore. We needed this time to mature.” (more…)

Hassan Sharif, the celebrated artist and major voice of contemporary art in the Middle East, has passed away after a battle with cancer.  He was 65.  Sharif’s work as both an artist and organizer in the United Arab Emirates was instrumental in the development and proliferation of the country’s contemporary art scene, and he continued to work to strengthen and promote the artists of the UAE in the region and abroad until his death.   (more…)

NADA has announced its 2016 Exhibitor List, with 72 galleries coming from 36 cities and 17 different countries, including projects from the ICA London, Mexico City’s Lulu, and American Medium in New York.  The fair returns to the Deauville Hotel this year after one year at the Fontainebleau.   (more…)

Activists in the LA neighborhood of Boyle Heights embarked on a march across the neighborhood’s gallery district earlier this week, serving “eviction notices” against a group of galleries established in the area.  “This is not street theater,” says Elizabeth Blaney, co-founder of one group, Union de Vecinos. “This is something we are very serious about and we do expect them to leave. This isn’t a show. This is real life that’s happening to real people.” (more…)

The Guardian writes on the ongoing complaints of a series of luxury condo residents living adjacent to the Tate’s Modern new Switch House extension, who claim their privacy is constantly being invaded by museum-goers looking out from the institution’s 10th floor viewing gallery.  ”I need to repeat the fact that clearly people purchasing those flats were in no doubt that Tate Modern was going to build its new Switch House building and the character and uses of that building were widely known,” says director Nicholas Serota.  “People purchased with their eyes wide open.” (more…)

A Dutch court has ordered Marina Abramović to pay her former partner Ulay over â‚¬250,000 arising from the sales of collaborative works and a re-enactment of one of their works for Adidas.  “I won the case on the most crucial points,” Ulay says. “The relief was like shedding my skin, physical and mental.  My cancer ordeal was aggressively threatening my life and the massive legal battle with Abramović was threatening my existence. To my opinion, the court verdict was fair and just to the truth.” (more…)

Greek collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos is set to open a new cultural center in Athens, which will serve as a base for his ongoing support of the arts in the Greek capital.  “It is a great joy for me that our refurbishment program has resulted in a new cultural venue, which we are now handing over to the public of Athens,” Daskalopoulos says. (more…)

The New York Times sits down with art dealer Virginia Dwan, whose collection is set to go on view at the National Gallery in Washington, as she reflects on her career and her contributions to the development of post-war conceptualism and the neo-avant-garde, including her support of works like Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty or an early version of Walter de Maria’s Lightning Field.  “There was a feeling of connection, other than just paying them — I was interested in their ideas,” she says. (more…)

Bloomberg notes the ongoing troubles for the contemporary market this week, focusing on the work of a group of young artists whose previously skyrocketing prices have now left collectors taking large losses to sell their works.  “This whole year has been a big readjustment, a much-needed one, like a chiropractic session,” says dealer Timothy Blum of Blum & Poe Gallery. “It can hurt, but you come out on the other end better than before.” (more…)

Stefan Kalmár, the longtime head of Artists Space in New York, will join ICA London as its new director.  “I’m honored to be joining the ICA, and am looking forward to shaping the institute’s future,”Kalmár said in a statement. “There really is no other organization like the ICA—indeed it is the birthplace of all ICAs.” (more…)

The Louvre has appointed Manuel Rabaté to head its new museum in Abu Dhabi, the Art Newspaper reports.  Rabaté has been the director of Agence France-Muséums since 2013, and will helm the museum as it prepares to open next year.   (more…)

The city of London has unveiled a plan for “artist zones,” designed to shield creatives from rising rents in the British capital.  “You grow as a capital city and that puts pressure on infrastructure that layers down into the arts world,” says the city’s Deputy Mayor for Culture Justine Simons.  “If you look at the average salary of an artist it’s about £10,000 a year. The average property price in London is about £600,000 a year. There is real pressure on affordability. We’re predicting we’ll lose 30 per cent of artist spaces in the next five years so that is a particular pressure area.” (more…)

The Rijksmuseum has announced that a group of six paintings should be included in the canon of painter Hercules Segers, following an extensive research process.  “He’s one of the most innovative painters of the 17th century, who has an oeuvre smaller than that of Vermeer,” says museum director Taco Dibbits, the director of the Rijksmuseum. “To be able to add to that oeuvre is just an amazing thing.” (more…)

Public outrage over a statue in the Egyptian city of Balyana has resulted in a government decree banning statues in the country’s public squares that do not have prior government approval. “It is forbidden to set up or renovate statues, murals or sculptures in Egypt’s public squares except after a thorough review by the ministries of antiquities and culture,” prime minister Sherif Ismail said. (more…)