An article in Bloomberg this week notes the statement of Laurence D. Fink, head of the world’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock Inc., that contemporary art has surpassed gold as a more secure investment.  “Historically gold was a great instrument for storing of Fink said at a conference in Singapore. “Gold has lost its luster and there’s other mechanisms in which you can store wealth that are inflation-adjusted.” (more…)

The Guardian reviews the ongoing rebuilding efforts at the Glasgow School of Art, after the school’s Mackintosh library was destroyed in last year’s massive blaze.  A fundraising campaign has already launched to help finance a new building, but a debate over rebuilding the space or starting over is currently drawing considerable attention.  “[Mackintosh] was driven by a lifelong search for new forms in architecture and technology and was never a copyist,” architecture professor Alan Dunlop says. “I have no doubt that he would reject the approach of building a replica.” (more…)

This year’s edition of Art Basel in Switzerland will feature a specially commissioned collaborative sculpture and performative work by Rirkrit Tiravanija, architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Müller, and chef Antto Melasniemi, titled DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY.   “Creating a place of hospitality, visitors can engage through the activities on offer, such as the drinking of herbal tea plucked fresh from the on-site garden, the preparation and eating of food,” the organization said in a statement. “The food will be rooted in Thai tradition and will be available with no fixed schedule, menu or price list: compensation is self-determined, by self-serving, serving others, donations or even participating in the cooking or washing up.” (more…)

The 2015 Artindex France report, annually released by Art Newspaper sister publication Journal des Arts has been released this week, with Berlin-based, French-Albanian artist Anri Sala topping the list, followed by François Morellet and Christian Boltanski, respectively.  The survey bases its findings on the number of solo exhibitions worldwide, compounded by each venue’s level of recognition and prominence. (more…)

Continuing a week of announcements regarding next month’s auctions, Christie’s has revealed that it has acquired the Sonnabend Collection for its May sales in New York, valued at $50 million.  The Collection has never before been offered on the secondary market.  “Many of Sonnabend’s exhibitions helped determine the course of art history in the late 20th Century,” says Laura Paulson, Christie’s chairman for post-war and contemporary art. “She discovered and promoted some of the most significant artists of her time.” (more…)

Random Darknet Shopper, a robot-based art project designed to randomly shop on Deep Web and black market websites, has been returned to the !Mediengruppe Bitnik collective after being confiscated in Janurary for purchasing MDMA during the piece’s performance.  Any potential prosecution over the work has also been withdrawn.  “The public prosecutor states that the possession of Ecstasy was indeed a reasonable means for the purpose of sparking public debate about questions related to the exhibition,” prosecuting attorneys state.  “The public prosecution also asserts that the overweighing interest in the questions raised by the art work Random Darknet Shopper justify the exhibition of the drugs as artifacts, even if the exhibition does hold a small risk of endangerment of third parties through the drugs exhibited” (more…)

A pair of bills introduced in Congress this week will look to improve artist rights and benefits regarding their works, The Art Newspaper reports.  One bill will look to push for an artist’s resale royalty in the US, bringing the country up to par with current measures being undertaken in Europe, while the second offers a tax deduction of fair market value for artists donating works to museums. Both bills have been proposed before, but have yet to be passed. (more…)

Adam Szymczyk, the director for Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens has stated his interest in exhibited the full collection of works from the Cornelius Gurlitt trove at the exhibition in 2017.  “I am not interested in an exclusive or first spectacular presentation but I would like to show the entire Gurlitt estate in the political and aesthetic context of Documenta 14,” he says.  “Our exhibition provides a unique and timely public platform for such a presentation.”  (more…)

The Morgan Library has named Colin Bailey as its new director, who has previously served as the chief curator of the Frick Collection.  “We should be able to do a little better,” says Morgan President Lawrence R. Ricciardi. “The programming is there. It’s just a question of getting the word out and getting people in the door.” (more…)

Two paintings, including a classic Roy Lichtenstein held at the Sam Simon Foundation, an organization established by Simpsons co-founder.  The pair of works are valued at $400,000.   (more…)

Collector Bob Rennie is interviewed in Bloomberg this week, offering his reflections and tips on starting a dedicated art collection, including his takes on art as investment.  “We can’t pretend that art is not an asset,” he notes. “It has to be managed.” (more…)

Early estimates claim that the Giacometti sculpture Looking Forward to the Past may smash its just recently set record of over $100 million next month at Christie’s Modern Sale in New York, with speculation that the work may achieve a final price of at least $130 million.  “It’s Giacometti saying: ‘Move forward! The war is behind us,’” Jussi Pylkkanen says of the work. “It’s the sculpture that symbolizes the future.” (more…)

The soon-to-open new home of the Whitney Museum was the site of a protest last night, which sought to illuminate the museum’s location above a massive fossil fuel pipeline and vault operated by Spectra Energy.  “Today we are asking: How can a museum that literally covers up the dirty fossil fuel industry be a beacon for the future of art and culture?” an open letter from the protesters read. (more…)

A Los Angeles Times article charts the success of LACMA curator Stephanie Barron, who has helped grow the museum and its collection into an international powerhouse of modern and contemporary art, as well as a growing Korean, Islamic and Latin American collections.  “I’ve had the amazing good fortune,” Barron says, “to work for an institution that has unconditionally supported the seriousness of the work that I want to do.” (more…)

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week notes the details and contractual clauses that accompany sales at the higher end of the art market, often in an attempt to prevent speculation.  “I don’t want to see my clients gambling at auction,” says gallerist Renato Danese. “What if the work doesn’t sell, or sells below the low estimate? That will hurt the artist in terms of current and future sales, and it will hurt my clients.”  (more…)

The New York Times profiles Joanne Heyler, the leader of Los Angeles’s Broad Foundation, and her role in establishing Eli Broad’s vision for his soon to open museum.  “She’s thinking about how to nest this institution in the community, how to engage the broader culture, how to broaden its audience and what the experience is going to be like for someone going to this museum,” says Lisa Dennison, former Guggenheim director and a chairwoman of Sotheby’s. “The book shop, lighting, conservation, storage, the plan for the opening show — it’s all Joanne.” (more…)

Downtown non-profit Art in General has decided not to renew its lease for the Soho/Tribeca space it has occupied for the last 34 years.  “We’ve occupied the space for quite some time,” board president Robert Ferguson says. “Our lease is now coming to an end in December of this year, and we’ve decided to embark on the process of finding a new space.” (more…)

A Cy Twombly blackboard painting may have sold for $60 million in a private sale, Marion Maneker of the Art Market Monitor reports, taking the news from active Twombly collectors.  If confirmed, the price would come close to the record-setting sale of a similar work last year by Nicola Del Roscio, Twombly’s former assistant and head of his foundation. (more…)

With renewed diplomatic activities between Cuba and the United States this year, the Independent forecasts massive interest in this year’s Havana Biennial.  “Most of us are expecting that for the Biennial there will be an explosion of American collectors coming to buy,” says artist Mario González. “It should be a stampede.” (more…)

Sotheby’s will bolster its May 12th Contemporary Evening Auction in New York next month with a brilliant, 1954 Mark Rothko, the New York Times reports.  Untitled (Yellow and Blue), which formerly sat in the collections of both Bunny Mellon and François Pinault, is estimated to achieve between $40 and $60 million. (more…)

Next month, Christie’s will lead its May 13th contemporary auction with one of Lucian Freud’s iconic portraits of former postal worker Sue Tilley, which will carry an estimate of $30 million to $50 million.  “This will be a good test of where his market is going,” says dealer James Holland-Hibbert. “It will be interesting to see if this style of painting appeals to the buyers who support these sales. Is Freud still a big enough brand?” (more…)

An article in the New York Times notes an increasing trend towards museums deaccessioning parts of their collection in order to cover budget gaps, even in the face of staunch opposition from critics and board members.  “If you want to safeguard cultural identity, you cannot sell the best pieces of your collection,” says  Marilena Vecco, an assistant professor of cultural economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. “This is the challenge for all museums.” (more…)

A crane crashed onto the roof of the Dallas Museum of Art this week, just missing a Mark Di Suvero sculpture atop the institution. The south end of the space are currently closed for repairs, while the rest of the building remains open. (more…)

NADA Miami Beach is moving locations this December, leaving its long-time home at the Deauville Beach Resort in North Miami Beach for The Fontainebleau Hotel further south.   Founder Heather Hubbs notes that the new location will see a fair of “the same exact size or a little smaller, but it won’t be bigger and we’re not looking to expand.” (more…)