A piece in Art Newspaper details the recent trend towards creative agencies representing artists in pursuit of large-scale commissions and other projects. “We focus exclusively on building and actioning a bespoke strategy for each artist that we work with,” says Rebecca Davies of Southern & Partners. (more…)

The staff at Mass MOCA is pushing to unionize. “We don’t have specifics yet, but some of the things that have come up already are better pay, better COVID safety precautions [and] benefits like paid family leave and more flexible working situations,” says Amanda Tobin, the museum’s associate director of education. (more…)

The Paris Biennale is permanently discontinued, Art Newspaper reports. Once considered among the world’s most prestigious fairs, the event has folded to pursue new projects. (more…)

Following the announced closure of Metro Pictures, Cindy Sherman will head to Hauser & Wirth, Art News reports. “Cindy is already established in the history of modern and contemporary American art, thanks in no small measure to the extraordinary work of Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer of Metro Pictures, her gallery since the early 1980s. We are excited to build upon their achievements and to introduce the artist’s work to ever-broader audiences and new generations worldwide,” says Marc Payot. (more…)

Ai Weiwei has moved to Portugal, and is currently planning a large-scale sculptural tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev. “To this day we don’t see anyone like Gorbachev in China,” he says. “But if China doesn’t have political reform like what Gorbachev initiated, there will be no good result of China’s economic development.” (more…)

Metro Pictures will close by year’s end, the gallery has announced, ending its run as a major player in New York’s art market. “We have decided to announce this difficult decision far in advance of our closing in order to give the artists we represent and our staff time to pursue other options and to allow us to participate in their transitions,” the gallery said in a statement. (more…)

LaToya Ruby Frazier has a piece in the NYT this week, showcasing new work and talking about her critical approach towards American culture. “I am showing these dark things about America because I love my country and countrymen,” she says. “When you love somebody, you tell them the truth. Even if it hurts.” (more…)

MoMA has covered up the name of late architect Philip Johnson on wall signs amid allegations of his fascist views. “To move forward with the exhibition thoughtfully, honoring the communities that the artists and their works represent, we feel it’s appropriate to respect the exhibition design suggestion and cover the signage with Johnson’s name outside the Architecture and Design galleries on an interim basis,” a MoMA spokesperson said. “To confront this matter, the Museum currently has underway a rigorous research initiative to explore in full the allegations against Johnson and gather all available information. This work is ongoing.” (more…)

Italy is looking to combat its crush of tourists in major cities by leasing works from the Uffizi in Florence to smaller museums and spaces around the country, CNN reports. “We already have over 3,000 works of art on display in the Uffizi — that’s enough,” Uffizi director Eike Schmidt says. (more…)

A piece in the New York Times this week notes the shifting relationships galleries are taking towards physical spaces, including the possibility that galleries may soon abandon their physical locales.“The question is whether galleries will continue to have space in London,” says Frieze’s Simon Fox. The organization has opened its own gallery space at No. 9 Cork Street that works with a range of galleries and dealers. “The answer to that, in time, might be ‘no.’”  (more…)

After a lengthy construction period, the new Munch Museum building in Oslo is preparing to open, the Architectural Digest reports. (more…)

The UK has announced that museums will not be able to reopen until Mid-May, a full month after shops and retail galleries.  “It just makes no sense,” says Rebecca Salter, the president of the Royal Academy of Arts . On the 12 April all the retail will open on Piccadilly and our gates will stay shut, I don’t get the logic of it frankly. It just doesn’t feel joined up to me … I’m angry.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT looks at the artists already thinking of the best way to commemorate those lost to the Covid-19 pandemic. “They want to recognize the deaths of those individuals, as well as to express a communal sense of shared loss and shared remembrance,” says geographer Avril Maddrell. (more…)

A major Paris scene painted by Vincent van Gogh and not yet seen in public since 1887 will go on view publicly this year, taking a tour of Europe before selling at Sotheby’s this May. “Very few paintings from Van Gogh’s Montmartre period remain in private hands – most are in the collections of prestigious museums around the world,” says Aurélie Vandevoorde of Sotheby’s. “The appearance on the market of a painting of this calibre, from such an iconic series, undoubtedly marks a major event.” (more…)

A piece in the SCMP looks at the trend of independent curators and gallerists filling abandoned retail spaces with art in Hong Kong.  “You have to go through a lot to get funding, or be noticed by institutions and galleries. But there is this regenerative energy that exists here – we always find a way to work around things,” she says curator Eunice Tsang. (more…)

New research has determined that writing on a version of Edvarrd Munch’s The Scream is by the artist himself. “It’s been examined now very carefully, letter by letter, and word by word, and it’s identical in every way to Munch’s handwriting,” says curator and researcher Mai Britt Guleng. “So there is no more doubt.” (more…)

The Mayor of Amsterdam is asking the Stedelijk to review the case of a Wassily Kandinsky work previously held in the collection of a Jewish family, and to reconsider if the work should be subject to restitution. “The Jewish people were deprived of their possessions, rights, dignity and, in many cases, their lives,” reads an open letter signed by a group including Femke Halsema mayor. “Insofar as something can still be restored of the great injustice done to them, we, as a society, have a moral obligation to act accordingly.” (more…)

A piece in The Telegraph charts the landscape for galleries in London currently, and how they are making plans for the coming years post-Brexit and post-Covid. “We’re just playing a waiting game right now,” David Zwirner director James Green. “Our doors have been shut for all of 2021 so far, and we haven’t had word from the Government as to when that might change.” (more…)

Met Director Max Hollein has defended the museum’s ability to deaccession works in a piece on the institution’s online blog this week. “The Museum approaches deaccessioning with the same degree of strategy and deliberation as we apply to acquisitions,” he writes. “Whereas the two activities are not directly coordinated, our curators are always mindful of the effects of both on the profile of the collection.” (more…)

A sculpture by Constantin Brancusi can be removed from Paris’s Montparnasse cemetery following the results of a lawsuit in French court. The work has been disputed for over a decade after several people attempted to sell the work amidst a red-hot market for the artist’s work. (more…)

Paul McCarthy has an interview in the NYT this week, as he reflects on his new work, which mines the recent events surrounding the end of Trump’s presidency, and its relation to the rise of fascist regimes. “What part of the population do you need to create fascism?” he asks. “You don’t need the whole population. For me it was like, yeah, the subject’s problematic, but it’s the subject.”  (more…)

Artist Michael Phelan will open an arts organization in Marfa, Texas this fall, the NYT reports. Phelan has been a resident of the town since 2014. (more…)

Damien Hirst has an interview in The Guardian this week, as he opens an outdoor sculpture show in St. Moritz, and reflects on the state of the world. “I like it when people love my art. I like it when people hate my art. I just don’t want them to ignore my art,” he says. (more…)

Artist Maria Eichhorn will represent Germany at next year’s Venice Biennale next year. “In my view there are few artists who address themselves to German history and its impact on the present in as multifaceted and intensive a manner as Maria Eichhorn,” says Yilmaz Dziewior, the curator of the German Pavilion. (more…)