Cecilia Alemani, the curator of New York’s High Line, has been tapped as the curator of the next Venice Biennale.  Alemani previously curated projects at the massive exhibition, including the 2017 Italian National Pavilion.  She is the first Italian woman to helm the Biennale. “As the first Italian woman to hold this position, I understand and appreciate the responsibility and also the opportunity offered to me,” she says. “I intend to give voice to artists to create unique projects that reflect their visions and our society.” (more…)

Artist Michael Rakowitz paused his video at MoMA PS1 this past week, part of a protest against museum board members he says are engaged in “toxic philanthropy.”  “I did not receive their permission, but it is my right as the artist and the work may not be altered without my permission,” Rakowitz says. “Removal of the statement or presenting the video unpaused would be damaging the work…. This is a destructive act.” (more…)

A piece in the NYT this week details the problems surrounding Polish artworks looted by the Nazis and held outside of the country, as well as the country’s issues with lotoed works currently held in its own collections. “The Polish government wants to have as much as possible back,” says law professor Kamil Zeidler, “but they don’t want to give anything back to others.” (more…)

French culture minister Franck Riester has announced plans for a cultural center dedicated to political cartoons. “I am convinced that today we need a meeting, training and exhibition place dedicated to press cartoons and satirical cartoons as [murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonist] Georges Wolinski had wished,” he said in a statement. (more…)

The Financial Times profiles collector Leo Shih this week, and his vision for the future of his collection.   “A museum is quite a big thing for me,” he says when asked about possibly opening his own institution. “I used to think about this, but to build one is easier than to maintain it — that’s the hard part. I don’t think I will go that way.” (more…)

A piece in Art News looks at the teaching work of John Baldessari, asking artists who studied with him to reflect on his classes and philosophy. “[We] learned how to talk about work—and thus how to think about it,” says Matt Mullican. “It was everyone challenging everybody.” (more…)

The New York Times has a piece on Piotr Bernatowicz, the recently appointed director of Warsaw’s Ujazdowski Castle Center for Contemporary Art who has vocally opposed what he frames as a left-leaning political dogma in the art world. “We were friends — he was in my films,” says artist Karol Radziszewski, who currently has a show at the museum. “And he’s just become crazy.” (more…)

Ford Foundation head Darren Walker has joined the Board at the National Gallery, the Washington Post reports in an in-depth profile. “I think he is an important figure because he is challenging the sector to think about how we are positioned at the heart of society,” says Henry Timms, president and chief executive of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. (more…)

Rachel Harrison, Hoarders (2012), via Whitney

Combining sculpture, readymades, drawing and a playful conceptual bent, artist Rachel Harrison’s work over the past 30 years has challenged easy readings of consumption, commercialism and modernity, imbuing her lumpy, peculiar objects with a sense of wry humor and situational irony.  Opening a major retrospective at The Whitney this winter, the artist’s work gets ample room to breathe, to striking result.    (more…)

A piece in the Washington Post surveys the estate of Purvis Young, and the legal wrangling that came in the wake of the artist’s death. “There’s not a lack of people who want it,” says auctioneer Steve Slotin. “Me and Christie’s fight tooth-and-nail.” (more…)

Documents in the massive 2016 Panama Papers leak have offered new evidence towards a claim on a Modigliani currently owned by David Nahmad.  “We are very pleased to have located this important new evidence, which further confirms that the Modigliani painting that was stolen from Oscar Stettiner is the exact same painting held by David Nahmad’s offshore company,” says James Palmer, the head of restitution company Mondex. (more…)

A new effort against money laundering in the UK is threatening the business of art galleries, Bloomberg reports.  “Some galleries may be blissfully unaware that this happened,” says Kenneth Mullen, a partner in intellectual property and technology at law firm Withersworldwide. “It’s given organizations very little time to react.” (more…)

Pace Gallery now represents the work of Beatriz Milhazes. “She’s a very strong and important artist who pushes the boundaries of art-making as we know them in the 20th and 21st centuries,” says Pace vice president Adam Sheffer. “Not unlike some other pioneers, like Robert Ryman and Agnes Martin, she works in her studio, quite focused on her technique and her imagery.” (more…)

Rashid Johnson, The Hikers (Installation View), via Art Observed

On view this fall in New York, Hauser & Wirth presents The Hikers, an exhibition of recent works by Rashid Johnson that unites ceramic tile mosaics, collaged paintings, and a large-scale sculpture that work together to address Johnson’s recurring interest in currents of anxiety and escapism created by the political and social turmoil felt across the United States and around the globe. (more…)

Paris’s Musée d’Orsay has launched an Instagram artist-in-residence program, inciting illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme to take over its account every Monday during 2020.  “It’s like doing the Instagram of Mount Olympus,” he says of the project, which depicts famed Parisian artists on social media. “Artists want to be seen – even the most serious ones. Why wouldn’t they show off like everyone else? That element was always there, but with these social platforms it’s just irresistible.” (more…)

Art Newspaper notes calls for the Palais de Tokyo to cancel a show sponsored by Qatar over the nation’s stance against homosexuality. “This is part of the Qatari government’s shameless and long-term strategy to bribe French society and soften its stance on human rights issues in the Persian Gulf region,” says philosopher Yves Michaud. (more…)

A group of art world figures, including leaders at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have criticized Donald Trump’s threats to destroy cultural sites in Iran.  “The targeting of sites of global cultural heritage is abhorrent to the collective values of our society,” they write. “Our world knows precisely what is gained from protecting cultural sites, and, tragically, what is lost when destruction and chaos prevail. At this challenging time, we must remind ourselves of the global importance of protecting cultural sites—the objects and places by which individuals, communities, and nations connect to their history and heritage.” (more…)

Jessi Reaves, Going Out in Style (Installation View), via Herald St

Currently on view at Herald St Gallery in London, the New York-based artist Jessi Reaves has opened a new show of work, ‘Going out in style,’ which marks a continued evolution in her practice and her second exhibition with the London space. Presenting works that are contradictory in their forms and perceived functions, often oscillating between sculpture and furniture while never quite fitting squarely into either category, the artist’s work underscores a particularly resonant series of concepts and conundrums in the landscape of the present. (more…)

Art Newspaper has a piece this week on the future of art auctions, and the category’s gradual folding into the broader luxury goods market, and new approaches to technology. “The fundamentals of auctions should be conducive to new technology… it is not the silver bullet,” says Bonhams Chief Marketing Office Marc Sands, “but to deliver technological change, you need someone who understands it.” (more…)

Arts Professional looks at a proposed €17.9m cut to European Union (EU) culture budgets proposed by the Finnish leadership, a point that could seriously impact the organization’s culture-making activities.  “We have been crunching the numbers and the picture is bleak,” says European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee’s Chair Sabine Verheyen.   (more…)

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts has set up a new $40,000, annual prize, named after Helen Frankenthaler.  “Helen would like nothing better than to see us supporting artists who carry on her pioneering approach to art making—and her adventurous spirit,” says Clifford Ross, board chair of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, which underwrites the grant. “FCA gives us the perfect opportunity to support new generations of visual artists.” (more…)

Merlin Carpenter, Untitled (2019), via Simon Lee

Artist Merlin Carpenter is a relentless shapeshifter, continuing a critique of modern art through a boundless series of projects and practices that often delve into ruptures and problems with the language of modern art. Exploring problems not of understanding, but of functionality in terms of art’s presentation and use, the artist explores just how aesthetics and value systems can be extended over the canvas. Emphasizing new levels and layers of observation intended to focus not only within the world of art-viewing, but in the world more broadly, the artist’s work makes a striking visual impact. (more…)

A piece in The Guardian this week charts the challenges of moving the collection of the V&A Musueum, from the heaps of paperwork to the difficulties in handling older items, to the odd bombshell. “I got a text last week saying we’ve found a bombshell,” says Ruby Hodgson, the collections move team manager. “My immediate thought was: ‘Oh God, are there explosives still in it?’” (more…)

The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has closed its doors due to poor air quality caused by the bushfires that have devastated the country. “Due to an increase in smoke in the Canberra area the National Gallery of Australia will be closed today,” a statement reads. “Closing our doors allows us to mitigate any risk to the public, staff and works of art on display.”  (more…)