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…)

The New York Times notes a proportional increase in the number of fall museum shows focusing around artists who are not white and male, including the Met Breuer’s upcoming Kerry James Marshall retrospective, and Hilma af Klint’s work on view at the New Museum. (more…)

Jared Leto is producing and starring in a biopic about the life of Andy Warhol, adapting Victor Bockris’s 1989 biography as the basis for the screenplay, written by Oscar-nominated writer Terence Winter.   (more…)

David Breslin, the chief curator of the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, will join The Whitney as the director of the museum’ s collection.  “I really wanted a partner in thinking about the collection,” says chief curator Scott Rothkopf. “To me, this is about investing in leadership around our collection displays in terms of how we collect, what we collect and what we publish on the collection.” (more…)

A group of four early works by Rembrandt are set to be reunited at the Ashmolean Museum, the Guardian reports.  “It is the first time these paintings will ever be on show together so it is an amazing thing,” says the gallery’s curator of northern European art, An Van Camp. “As a curator, this is the stuff you dream of … a world first. Even the owners of the paintings have never seen them together.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper looks at the increasing number of artists forgoing full-time gallery representation, and galleries’ efforts to adapt to the new landscape.  “As long as an artist is selling well, they can undoubtedly act more as a free agent than we’ve seen over the past several decades,” says dealer Ed Winkleman.  “If collectors are not as eager to be on the best terms with dealers, it gives artists more flexibility in how they set the terms of their relationship with dealers.”  (more…)

A U.S. Senate panel is advancing a bill that would make it easier for heirs seeking to reclaim Nazi-looted art.  “For the families of those who lost everything at the hands of the Nazis, hopefully today serves as an important and symbolic step to reclaiming not just artwork, but familial legacy,” says Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who sponsored the legislation alongside Ted Cruz. (more…)

A Wassily Kandinsky work previously held in the collection of the Guggenheim will hit lead Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale in New York this fall.  A later work, from 1935,“ranks alongside the biggest pictures of his last years,” says Conor Jordan, the auction house’s deputy chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art. (more…)

The Guardian joins Tracey Emin at Tate Liverpool this week, as the artist rebuilds her infamous work My Bed for an upcoming exhibition, and charts the process in creating and conserving the piece, including many of the spoiled materials (a twenty year old bottle of Orangina for instance) still used in the installation of the work. (more…)

Marian Goodman is opening a another gallery in Paris at 66 Rue du Temple, just across the street from her current exhibition space, the New York Times reports.  “It does extend the possibility of the gallery,” she says. “This is an addition that gives us more opportunity.” (more…)

Mexico City–based artist Pedro Reyes will be first Dasha Zhukova Distinguished Visiting Artist at MIT, the institution announced this week.  Reyes is currently preparing Doomocracy, a political “house of horrors” at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, will host a course titled “The Reverse Engineering of Warfare: Challenging Techno-optimism and Reimagining the Defense Sector (An Opera for the End of Times),” and will also receive funding for research during his tenure. (more…)

The Swiss Institute has announced that it will reopen at 38 St. Mark’s Place, with Maja Hoffmann taking over as chairperson for the gallery’s board.  “I am thrilled to begin my tenure as Chair with the support of such a stellar, expanded and international Board of Trustees, at the start of an exciting new era for the organization. I am looking forward to working with the exceptional Swiss Institute team as they thoughtfully develop the institution and its program in the context of such a storied, creative neighborhood.”  The new space will open in Spring of 2017. (more…)

The New York Times reports on designer Thomas Heatherwick’s soon-to-be constructed installation Vessel for Hudson Yards, a massive, intricately-woven series of staircases that will allow visitors to thread their way through the piece to reach its top.  “We know ‘Vessel’ will be debated and discussed and looked at from every angle, and Thomas,” Bill deBlasio said of the work during an announcement program, “if you meet 100 New Yorkers, you will find 100 different opinions on the beautiful work you’ve created. Do not be dismayed.” (more…)

Photographer Edward Burtynsky is featured in the Guardian this week, as he shares a body of new works exploring the environmental ravages of the planet today, and reflects on the conditions that make his photography possible.  “We’re at a critical moment in history where we’re starting to hit the thresholds of human expansion and the limits of what this planet can sustain. We’re reaching peak oil, peak fish, peak beef – and the evidence is all there to see in the landscape.” (more…)

The Art Newspaper looks at the expansion of the Victoria and Albert Museum into Scotland, as the institution plans an exhibition space in the city of Dundee.  The expansion is “part of an ambitious program to make our collections and expertise more widely available to the public and to promote…the UK creative economy,” according to museum director Martin Roth. (more…)

Peter Zumthor has been tapped to design an extension for Fondation Beyeler, Artforum reports, an $82 million building in Iselin-Weber Park in Riehen.  “The interaction of human beings, nature, art, and architecture is one of the keystones of the Fondation Beyeler’s success, and was also essential for the development of Renzo Piano’s award-winning museum,” says Fondation Director Sam Keller, “Peter Zumthor possesses the sensitivity and experience that are needed to create a building of outstanding quality in this very special location.” (more…)

Doug Aitken is profiled in The Guardian this week, as the artist opens a new show of work at the MOCA in Los Angeles.  “I think in working with Philippe [Vergne]  we were able to make the exhibition become an artwork,” says Aitken. “It made me become really engaged in thinking about how you see a museum so it’s less passive and more empowering and more mysterious.” (more…)

Ai Weiwei is wrapping Florence’s Palazzo Strossi in rubber life boats, continuing his projects commenting on the plight of Syrian refugees.  The work is part of an exhibition by the artist at the space, which will include a body of new works alongside older pieces. (more…)

MoMA is set to make thousands of images documenting various installations and exhibitions from the full range of the museum’s history available online.  Visitors to the MoMA website will be able to browse the images and search for exhibitions from across the museum’s almost 100 year history.  “This is like a dream come true for me,” says Michelle Elligott, chief of the museum’s archives, “because I’ve been playing around with this material for 20 years and I know the depth of what’s here.” (more…)

Bloomberg reports that collectors Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu are set to open an art space dedicated to Arte Povera in the Hudson Valley town of Garrison.  “The only drawback to collecting Arte Povera is that much of the work is huge in scale and certainly cannot be shown in a house made of glass walls,” Nancy Olnick says. “This led us to look for an appropriate space to display the artwork.” (more…)