Artist Charles Gaines has created a fellowship for black MFA Students at CalArts, where he has been a longtime member of the faculty. “I have spent my whole teaching career at CalArts working—not alone but with others—on diversity and inclusion in order to increase the presence of the minority voice in society,” Mr. Gaines says.  (more…)

TEFAF has extended the delay for its 2021 edition, moving it once again from March to May as COVID-19 concerns continue to mount. “It is our hope that by pushing the dates of TEFAF Maastricht to later in the spring, we make physical attendance possible, safe, and comfortable for our exhibitors and guests,” says chairman Hidde van Seggelen. “The safety of our TEFAF community is our utmost priority as we fulfill our commitment to inspiring art lovers, collectors, and institutions, while simultaneously doing our part to cultivate an adaptable art market in which our dealers can thrive.”  (more…)

London’s Cromwell Place, a new, customized arts venue for exhibitors and arts professionals, gets a spotlight in the NYT this week.  “I like the built-in industry flexibility,” says David Maupin, co-founder of Lehmann Maupin. “It provides a space we can do a multitude of things with.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic has an interview in The Guardian this week, showcasing her small home upstate and speaking on a range of topics, including her relationship with the late Ulay, her longtime collaborator. “It’s really easy to say you can forgive someone, but to really forgive with your whole heart is the hardest thing in the world,” she says. “But truly, I forgave him in the deepest way. We had made some incredible, important work. When it was wonderful, it was wonderful; when it was hell, it was hell.”  (more…)

Following multiple delays, Berlin’s long-awaited Humboldt Forum museum complex will open in December.  Its main program will launch a few months later. (more…)

Dana Schutz is now represented by David Zwirner Gallery, moving on from Petzel Gallery to join the mega-gallery.  She will continue to show with Thomas Dane in London. (more…)

Architect Peter Zumthor gets a profile in The New Yorker this week, as discussions continue over his controversial redesign of LACMA. “You can feel I am alone, with very few people supporting me,” he says. “I don’t have the right education, or I refuse to have the right education.” (more…)

Dealer Linda Givon, the founder of Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery, has passed away at the age of 84. “She was a rock in her championship of liberated voices, pens, cameras, pencils, and brushes, and the role of art in a new South Africa,” says Neil Dundas, senior curator at the gallery. “Her influence will be felt for a very long time and her legacy is enormous and shall be treasured by many.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT this week reports on a challenging work at the New Museum, noting low pay, low morale, and questionable ethics in major decisions. “There was very much an ends-justify-the-means approach to what staff were asked to do in the name of realizing some very ambitious exhibitions,” says former director of exhibitions management director Sam Rauch. “And there is no question it takes a toll.” (more…)

Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, speaks up on the delay of the Philip Guston show announced this past month, noting a focus on including black voices in the planning of the show’s new form. “Number one in today’s America—because Guston appropriated images of black trauma—[is that] the show needs to be about more than Guston. And we weren’t prepared for that. And that’s one of the reasons why I just want to pause and just think about what that means. Also, related [to this], an exhibition with such strong commentary on race cannot be done by all white curators. Everybody involved in this project is white,” she says. “We definitely need some curators of color working on the project with us. I think all four museums agree with that statement.” (more…)

Ai Weiwei is interviewed in The Guardian this week, discussing new work and the public reaction to Donald Trump’s contraction of COVID-19. “People were just laughing and celebrating on social media,” he said. “The attitude was, ‘You lose, Trump!’ It is so sad that a nation has been brainwashed to that degree. They take the relationship with America so personally, and yet they have no understanding left about common human feeling. That is what an authoritarian regime can do by limiting the information the public get: brainwash people so they do not feel that way any more.” (more…)

In an effort to maintain solvency, London’s Royal Opera House will sell a David Hockney portrait of the late Sir David Webster at auction. “This was a really tough call,” says Alex Beard, the ROH’s chief executive. “But we have to face the situation we are in and if we can remain viable and get through this, then we can get back to employing people in the future.” (more…)

In a first major test, the Venice flood barriers were able to hold water from flooding during “acqua alta.” “We found a difficult situation and slowly, slowly we’ve been able to resolve things,” says Giuseppe Fiengo, one of the commissioners who have overseen the project since 2014. “The important thing is that today, for the first time, with high water, Venice didn’t flood.” (more…)

The Whitney has postponed the next edition of the Whitney Biennial to 2022. “We wanted to make sure artists had the space and time they needed to do their best work,” says chief curator Scott Rothkopf. (more…)

The Centre Pompidou is facing a possible three year closure for essential maintenance. “No substantial work has been done on the building since it opened in 1977,” says president Serge Lasvignes. “There are two hypotheses: either we do [the refurbishment] by closing it completely and it will last three years. [Or] we stay open and it will last seven years. But this poses additional problems, including that of asbestos removal.” (more…)

MoMA PS1’s chief curator Peter Eleey will step down at the end of the year.  “The many impacts of the pandemic—on the museum, on the city, and on all of us—have moved me to think about the next chapters in my work and my life, and I have decided to step down as Chief Curator at the end of the year,” he says. (more…)

VP candidate Kamala Harris spoke last night at a benefit for Joe Biden yesterday, outlining her experiences with the arts at the Studio Museum and SFMoMA as a child.  “All of those experiences through my childhood, and as I was growing up, really reinforced for me the importance of giving children, and as we go on, giving artists,” she says, “the ability to have these vehicles where they can not only express themselves and their feelings, but also build their confidence.” (more…)

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum will cut 103 jobs, 10% of its workforce, Art Newspaper reports. “Final decisions will be made once the consultation is complete,” says a museum statement. (more…)

A new study of the Mona Lisa has revealed a charcoal underdrawing, indicating a sketch of the work before its completion. “These discoveries increase and increase the mystery of its creation, in the end we understand that it is the work of a very long ‘creative act’—which spans more than a decade and in several stages,” says researcher Pascal Cotte. (more…)

A new study into the work of Edward Hopper by a doctoral candidate at the Courtauld Institute in London shows that some of the artist’s early works are copies of works from a magazine for amateur artists.  (more…)

Bruce Nauman speaks with The Guardian this week, as the artist prepares to open a major retrospective at Tate Modern. “I remember someone coming to the studio and saying, ‘You must be very depressed,’” he notes. “I said that I didn’t think so, otherwise I wouldn’t be making work. A lot of things got worked out through the work. Different kinds of anger and frustration.” (more…)

Following Paddle 8’s bankruptcy, the company’s bankruptcy trustee Megan Noh has filed suit against former board member John Textor, alleging “reckless disregard” for the company, and seeking $6 million in damages. “Neither I nor the companies mentioned have been involved in quite some time, though it is standard practice for a trustee to cast a wide net in filing speculative claims for recovery,” Textor claims. (more…)

Auction houses are reporting massive upticks in online sales as galleries and auctions shutter due to Covid-19. “No longer will we have the joy and pain of crowded art fairs and gallery openings,” says Robert Head of the Hiscox agency. “Dealers will have to find new ways to create the buzz that makes us have to buy now, lest we dwell and lose yet another treasure that we can’t live without.” (more…)

David Zwirner Gallery has appointed Ebony L. Haynes, formerly of Martos Gallery, as the head of a new gallery space in Manhattan, which will employ an all-black staff. “While you could argue that strides have been made on the artist side, the art world acts almost shamefully on the employment side,” Mr. Zwirner says. “Something has to happen.” (more…)