After sharing this year’s Turner Prize, Lawrence Abu Hamdan has won the 2019 Edvard Munch Art Award, which includes a residency and $50,000. A statement by the Munchmuseet noted the institution “values the artist’s commitment to human rights and his capacity to address urgent political subjects through his art.” (more…)

Maurizio Cattelan much talked about banana work was removed from the Galerie Perrotin booth at Art Basel Miami Beach this weekend after crowds gathering to see the work became too large. “Art Basel collaboratively worked with us to station guards and create uniform lines,” reads a gallery statement. “However, the installation caused several uncontrollable crowd movements and the placement of the work on our booth compromised the safety of the artwork around us, including that of our neighbors.” (more…)

The teenager who threw a young boy from the balcony of the Tate Modern has admitted to attempted murder, and will be sentenced early next year, after saying the act was intended to silence those who said he was not mentally ill. “I wanted to be on the news, who I am and why I did it, so when it is official no-one can say anything else,” he said. (more…)

Art Basel is offering support to dealers exhibiting in its Hong Kong fair this coming year, with a 5% to 10% discount on stand fixtures such as walls, flooring and lighting, which some speculate is an attempt to lure uneasy galleries in the wake of the protests in Hong Kong. “The $200,000 cost of doing Art Basel in Hong Kong is the difference between a small or mid-tier gallery going under. We are prepared to take the risk but we would like that properly acknowledged,” said one anonymous dealer. (more…)

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles will voluntarily recognize its employee union, the LA Times Reports.  “This is a smart move,” says Lylwyn Esangga, organizing director at AFSCME’s District Council 36. “At the end of the day the workers want a voice and a seat at the table…. It shows a willingness to recognize that seat at the table. This is unique in that many employers will go through an election or do an anti-union campaign.” (more…)

Financier, philanthropist and collector Donald B. Marron, who sat on the board of MoMA and helped pioneer the UBS Collection of art, a major corporate collection, has passed away at 85. (more…)

A piece in the Smithsonian this week looks at the recent trove of Marcel Duchamp works given to the Hirshhorn Museum.  “This is a real milestone in our museum’s history,” says museum director Melissa Chiu. “This is in fact the most important donation by individual collectors since our founding gift from Mr. Hirshhorn which founded our museum in 1974.” (more…)

A piece in GQ this week looks at the outsize impact of Berlin’s art scene on the look and popularity of Balenciaga in the broader art world.  “There’s so much crossover that it feels like the art world and Balenciaga are a part of the same conversation,” says Carly Busta of New Models. (more…)

The Freelands Foundation has awarded the Hepworth Wakefield as the fourth recipient of its $132,000 Freelands Award, which will support a major exhibition of photographer Hannah Starkey. “This project comes at an exciting moment when Starkey is reassessing her art in the light of recent political events, such as the MeToo movement, that have such a vital bearing on her new work,” says museum director Simon Wallis. (more…)

Bloomberg has a piece on the massive Portia Munson work on view at P.P.O.W.‘s Art Basel Miami Beach booth, and efforts to sell it during the fair.  “This is really why we do this, “ says collector Steve Wilson, who ultimately bought the work. “I love exposing the world to this kind of art, and helping living artists, and putting it all together.” (more…)

A number of museums are closed in France this week as protests and strikes over President Macron’s retirement reforms continue nationwide.  Other museums are choosing to operate only partially, like the Grand Palais.  “Because of the circulation problems, a lot of people can’t come to work so we can only keep one exhibition open,” says a spokesperson. (more…)

A piece in Art Newspaper spotlights the continued efforts of the Yuz Museum and LACMA to show Yuz founder Budi Tek’s collection of Chinese contemporary art in Shanghai despite a government crackdown on Islam.  “I do not consider that to be a problem at all,” Tek says. “It is never in my mind that whatever happens in Hong Kong will affect our program, or our [future] achievements.” (more…)

A large-scale march against climate change has been scheduled for Friday 6 December, outside the government centre in downtown Miami.  “We are reaching an irreversible tipping point, beyond which glacier ice melt will raise sea levels to catastrophic levels here in Miami, where more than 2.4m people live less than 4ft above the high-tide line,” says activist Will Charouhis adds. “Even the most conservative estimates show that some Floridians will soon be forced to move and will become some of our nation’s first climate refugees.” (more…)

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Andrea Fraser gets the profile treatment in the NYT this week, as she looks at an art world that has adopted and implemented activist practices that seem to echo her pioneering work during the 1980s.  “I’m on three boards and two councils, so it feels like I’ve gone to seed or something,” she says. “But it’s sort of the part of the evolution of what I do and institutional critique — realizing that you also have to step up.”   (more…)

Starting in 2020, New York non-profit Artadia will significantly expand its grant-making programs, providing funds to artists based in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston. “Funds are fantastic, but it’s really about validation—being told that your work matters,” Carolyn Ramo, Artadia’s executive director says. “Our goal is to celebrate these artists in the cities they live and work and also create a national conversation around their practice.” (more…)

In an unexpected twist, this year’s Turner Prize will go to all four artists nominated, after the group asked to be judged as a collective.  The gesture, a show of solidarity amidst a fractious election season, was praised by many.  “In coming together and presenting themselves as a group, this year’s nominated artists certainly gave the jury a lot to think about,” says Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain. “But it is very much in the spirit of these artists’ work to challenge convention, to resist polarized world views, and to champion other voices. The jury all felt that this made the collective a worthy winner of the Turner Prize.”  (more…)

A Paul Gauguin work made during his time in Tahiti has sold for €9.5 million (about $10.5 million) at a Paris auction.  The work had previously been on loan to the Met, and was sold to “an international collector.” (more…)

David Hammons gets a profile in the New Yorker this week, as the artist prepares his monumental installation outside the Whitney.  “I had met David, but I didn’t really know him,” says president Adam. “He was looking at the river, so I went over and said, ‘You know, Gordon Matta-Clark did his famous pier cut right down there.’ David didn’t say anything, but a few days later we got a small drawing by him in the mail, with no explanation, no message of any kind.”  (more…)

Protests turned violent outside the Hong Kong Museum of Art just one day after the museum reopened, with police firing tear gas onto crowds nearby.  “It was all peaceful and we walked towards Hung Hom. Then the police blocked the road and we had to head back here, and now we just got tear-gassed for no reason,” said one protester. (more…)

Byron Kim has won the Robert De Niro, Sr. Prize, an award given annually to mid-career American painters. “It was really surprising,” the artist says.  (more…)

A piece in The Guardian this week notes museum-goers increasing dissatisfaction with the crowds of visitors at museums, as many start to give up on trying to see shows.  One visitor describes a visit to London’s National Gallery as “like being in a nightclub. You couldn’t even see the pictures – you were being pushed around by the crowd. It was scary.” (more…)

Artist Michael Rakowitz has spoken out against the relationship between MoMA and “toxic philanthropy,” requesting that his work in a MoMA PS1 be paused.  “It is not the artists who need to depart,” reads a protest statement, “it is museums’ dysfunctional and abusive relationship to toxic philanthropy that should go away.” (more…)

Artist Anne Hardy has erected the Christmas decorations at the Tate Britain this year, rendering an apocalyptic landscape outside the museum. “It is a challenging site but the gift of it is that it [Tate Britain] is an amazing object,” she says. “I work with found materials a lot in my work and I thought that was the way to approach this – as a found object. What could it become that it isn’t now?” (more…)