President Hollande has announced that France will offer “asylum” for works threatened by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.  “The right to asylum applies to people… but asylum also applies to works, world heritage,” Hollande says. (more…)

The Guerilla Girls art collective are embarking on a new campaign against billionaire art collectors, beginning next years and commenting on the dissonance between the immense prices paid for contemporary art, the increasing financial-focus of the market, and the struggles of lower class workers at the hands of the hyper-wealthy.  “Cartels of collectors get behind the work of a few selected artists; galleries are paying for exhibitions of their artists at museums; and art fairs are showing the same bankable work over and over,” the group said in a statement. (more…)

The Atlantic challenges easy distinctions of “American Art” as globalization and increased international migration blur easy distinctions of nationality or singular cultural heritages.  “Place is very important to us, so an artist has to have a substantial connection to the American experience. We recognize that can manifest in different ways,”says Margaret Conrads, the director of curatorial affairs at Crystal Bridges. (more…)

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art has opened its doors to Bloomberg, giving the publication a rare glimpse by Western media into its impressive collection of Western contemporary work.  “This is one of the great unseen collections of postwar European and American art in the world,” says Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu. “We haven’t seen these works in 40 years.” (more…)

An article by the BBC profiles the increased number of projects by contemporary artists taking place in culturally historical locales like Versailles, noting in particular Lawrence Weiner’s new installation at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.  “There is no clash between historical and contemporary,” Weiner says. “It is all contemporary. This was my home and Blenheim Palace is still living.” (more…)

Ed Ruscha, Metro Mattress #4 (2015), via Sprüth Magers Berlin

Currently on view at Sprüth-Magers in Berlin, artist Ed Ruscha is exhibiting a body of new color drawings, under the title Metro Mattresses, an exhibition that takes the cast-off mattresses of his native Los Angeles as an inspirational ground for an exploration of intertwined physical and imagined narratives, objective and subjective experiences of the urban environment. (more…)

The New York Times interviews collector and billionaire Liu Yiqian, the buyer of the Amedeo Modigliani that smashed records this past month to become one of the most expensive works sold at auction for $170 million.  “I was on the phone with a girl from Christie’s Hong Kong who was bidding on my behalf, and she kept dropping the phone because she was so nervous,” Mr. Liu he says. “I told her, ‘Why are you so nervous? I’m the one paying, and I’m not even nervous. Just buy it.’  ” (more…)

MoMA has announced that it will return a contested painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner to the heirs of the German art collector Max Fischer, following evidence that the work was t

MOCA Director Philippe Vergne sits down with Architectural Digest’s West Coast editor, Mayer Rus, reflecting on his vision for the museum, and his first time in Los Angeles.  “The driving! Chris Burden kept saying, ‘You can’t drive through the riot areas,’ but I’d get lost and be afraid that I was somewhere I was not supposed to be. Plus, I was going to meet these guys who were absolute legends to me. It was pure adrenaline the whole time.” (more…)

Representatives of the European Biennial Manifesta have announced that the 2018 edition of the event will be held in Palermo, Italy, on the island of Sicily.  “The City of Palermo was important for Manifesta’s selection board for its representation of two important themes that identify contemporary Europe: migration and climate changes and how these issues impact our cities,” the organizers said in a statement. (more…)

The BBC takes an inside look at a London performance held by The Belarus Free Theatre, a group of performers who are banned from performance in their home country.  “We thought that we needed to create a list of taboos in Belarus,” Nadia Kaliada, a troupe performer says. (more…)

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami has broken ground on its permanent location, less than a year after opening in a temporary space in Miami’s design district.  The new space is set to open in 2017.  (more…)

Paris’s museums have reopened to the public following a two day closure in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attacks in the city.  “These attacks targeted places of entertainment, togetherness and leisure,” said Ministry of Culture head Fleur Pellerin. “I call on everyone to show unity and solidarity. It is the best response that the Republic, the Ministry of Culture and Communication and its agents can bring to those who threaten us.” (more…)

A group of Swiss students have designed a skeletal, wooden pavilion on Lake Zurich, which will act as a central part of the Manifesta 11 festival in the city of Zurich, and includes an open-air cinema and reflecting pool.  “The Pavillon of Reflections will offer a place for both encounters and education, a place for both passing the time with physical activity and with intellectual pursuits,” the group from ETH Zurich said. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art will be on hand at Art Basel this year, selling a series of Andy Warhol-branded skate decks featuring the artist’s famous Campbell’s Soup Cans, and other selections from his catalog.  The MoMA Shop will be on view at the Delano from November 30 through December 6.  (more…)

A massive wall and ceiling painting commission by Tintoretto at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice has been restored using an LED lighting system, and a lengthy cleaning process, the Art Newspaper reports.  “The marbles are just as important as the Tintorettos [to the building’s overall decorative scheme],” says vicar Demetrio Sonaglioni. “[They] celebrated the importance of the buildings with fine carvings and paintings,” he adds.  (more…)

The Guardian has published a special series this week, titled “TheSeven Ages of an Artist,” interviewing a set of artists including Laure Prouvost, Richard Deacon, Rachel Whiteread, and others, as they reflect on the different stages of their career, considered from their varying vantage points in age and experience.  “I’m lucky my work started to be supported in my 30s – it is hard to be picked up really young, because you have not tried enough and have not got lost enough,” Prouvost says. (more…)

In an effort to cut costs, Artforum is reporting that Sotheby’s has offered a series of buy-outs for employees, offering what CEO Tad Smith calls “an attractive economic opportunity to volunteer to resign, should they wish to do so,” while acknowledging that he “certainly understands that announcing a cost reduction program right after two weeks of dazzling sales may be unexpected.” (more…)

Gerhard Richter, 180 Farben (180 Colours) (1971) Photo: David Brandt, all photos © Gerhard Richter

The relentlessly inventive Gerhard Richter is the subject of a meticulously crafted exhibition at Dominique Lévy in London this month, shedding light on a less recognized body of work from the early years of his decades long career.  Dating back as far as 1966, Richter’s works in the Color Charts series promise a unique and disparate offering, juxtaposed with his eminent and contemporaneous Photo Paintings, which brought the German artist massive global recognition.   This selection, compiled from a number of different collections globally, reunites a handful of earlier examples from the Color Charts  series for first time since they debuted at Munich’s Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem in 1966. (more…)

Camille Henrot (Installation Pictures), via Art Observed

Camille Henrot’s first solo show with Metro Pictures is something of a story in three parts, bringing the artist’s loosely flowing, cartoonish drawings to bear against her interests in environmental installation, digital artifacts and an interest in the modes and experiences of banality to bear across a broad selection of pieces. The artist’s work, presented here, offers a considered, meandering pathway through the iconography and subtle psychologies of modern life. (more…)

Robert Gober, Untitled (1997), all photos via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Taking the fraught emotional landscape of early childhood as its central focus, Skarstedt Gallery’s London location is currently presenting a subdued but emotionally poignant group show, exploring the use and manipulation of the objects, scenarios and symbolism of youth as a productive force for a group of the gallery’s artist.  Exhibiting work from Robert Gober, the late Mike Kelley and Vija Celmins, the stripped-down exhibition carries an impressive punch. (more…)

Rineke Dijkstra, The Gymschool, St. Petersburg (2014)

Rineke Dijkstra’s new three channel video, The Gymschool, St. Petersburg, is currently on view at Marian Goodman Gallery. Originally commissioned for Manifesta in 2014, this 15-minute video was shot at an acclaimed gymnastic school in St. Petersburg, Russia, utilizing the minimal, pale atmosphere of the rehearsal studio.  (more…)

CNBC takes a brief look at the underground arts scene in Singapore, where artists have been developing a fertile community off the beaten path of the city-state’s art scene.  “The scene has grown and diversified while maintaining its spirit of mutual respect and collaboration. It’s exciting times for art and music lovers in Singapore,” says Sideshow Collective member Tom Kelly. (more…)

A recent report by Citi has noted an impressive rate of growth for the art market in the past 15 years, when sales totaled about $3 billion.  “Since then, global auction turnover has grown at an average annual compound rate of 13%, reaching $16.1 billion in 2014,” says JPMorgan Asset Management’s Benjamin Mandel.  “Not bad considering that the period was punctuated by the deepest global recession in almost a century.” (more…)