News

December 17, 2018 at 12:19pm

Troels Wörsel (1950–2018)

Danish experimental painter Troels Wörsel, who represented Denmark in the Fifty-Second Venice Biennale, has died at age sixty-eight. Wörsel was a self-taught artist whose formal experiments fused elements of Minimalism, Pop, and Conceptualism. His strategies involved incorporating familiar imagery into his art, blending figuration with abstraction, collage, and sometimes painting on the backside of his canvases. The artist gained international recognition in 2007, when his Danish pavilion at the Venice Biennale was exhibited.
Born in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1950, Wörsel moved to Munich and then

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December 17, 2018 at 11:27am

Phillips Auction House in New York to Relocate

Phillips action house revealed today that it is planning to move its New York headquarters to 432 Park Avenue, the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere. In the new luxury building by Rafael Viñoly Architects and Macklowe Properties, Phillips will take over 55,000 square feet, which includes the Park Avenue Cube—the white-glass, two-story modernist structure on the northwest corner of Fifty-Sixth Street and Park Avenue—and an underground concourse of more than 30,000 square feet.
“We’ve spent several years carefully considering the best location for our business and have

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December 17, 2018 at 10:38am

Manifesta Announces Artistic Team for 2020 Edition

Manifesta, the nomadic European biennial which changes its location every two years, has announced the artistic team for its thirteenth iteration, set to take place in Marseille from June 7, 2020 to November 1, 2020. The exhibition will mark the first time that Manifesta will be held in France.
The event will be led by Alya Sebti, director of Berlin’s ifa Gallery and curator of the Thirteenth Dak’Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art (2018); architect Marina Otero Verzier, director of research and development at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam; Katerina Chuchalina, chief curator at the V-A-C

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December 14, 2018 at 6:08pm

Strasbourg Biennale Postponed Following Christmas Market Shooting

The inaugural edition of the Strasbourg Biennale, which was expected to kick off on Saturday, December 15, has been postponed following the fatal shooting of three people at a Christmas market in the French city on Tuesday, December 11. The following day, officials declared the attack, which also left about a dozen others wounded, an act of terrorism.
The authorities tracked the suspect, who was later identified as twenty-nine-year-old Chérif Chekatt, to the residential Neudorf neighborhood, where he was shot dead by the authorities Thursday night. According to the New York Times, Chekatt, who

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December 14, 2018 at 4:25pm

Kasper König’s Remarks about Turkish Immigrants Spark Controversy in Germany

The German curator Kasper König, the former director of major institutions such as Portikus in Frankfurt am Main and Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the founder of Skulptur Projekte Münster, is currently facing backlash over remarks that he made about Turkish immigrants during a panel discussion held at the state-funded theater Munich Kammerspiele last month. Following the event, media artist and panelist Cana Bilir-Meier accused König of racism, sparking a protest against discrimination in the German art world.
More than one hundred cultural figures have signed an open letter denouncing König’s

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December 14, 2018 at 4:17pm

Guggenheim Museum to Open Daily in 2019

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York announced that in 2019 it will be open seven days a week and will close late on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The institution decided to extend its hours in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of its iconic Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building, which began welcoming visitors on October 21, 1959.
Leading up to the building’s anniversary day, the museum has planned various tours, activities, and other events that will delve into its history. Museumgoers will be invited to celebrate with the institution by ordering one of its founders’ favorite

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December 14, 2018 at 3:48pm

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gifted Major Collection of Chinese Artworks

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, has received a significant gift of Chinese paintings and calligraphy from collector Wan-go H.C. Weng, whose private holdings of Chinese art is one of the largest in the United States. The donation comprises 183 objects that were acquired by and passed down through six generations of a single family. Weng’s great-great-grandfather, a scholar who held various prominent positions in government, including as tutor to two of the last emperors of the Qing dynasty, assembled the core of the collection during the nineteenth century.
“On rare occasions, there are

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December 14, 2018 at 3:21pm

Robin Nicholson Appointed Executive Director of the Telfair Museums

The Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia, which comprises the Jepson Center, the Telfair Academy, and the Owens–Thomas House & Slave Quarters, announced the appointment of Robin Nicholson as the institution’s next executive director and CEO. Nicholson, who currently serves as executive director of the Frick Pittsburgh, will succeed Lisa Grove and will assume his position on March 1, 2019.
“Robin distinguished himself throughout the interview process with his deep knowledge, passion, and clear vision of Telfair’s future,” Ted Kleisner, chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, said in a statement.

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December 14, 2018 at 1:31pm

Scholars Urge Germany to Create a National Institute Addressing Colonial-Era Objects

Over eighty scholars working in art history, ethnology, and history called on the German government to found an institute in Berlin that would develop policy, research, and initiatives to address the nation’s colonial history and the inclusion of colonial-era objects in public collections, reports the Art Newspaper.
The appeal, published in Die Zeit and led by five German scholars, also urges the government to lend long-term support to initiatives such as Cologne Postkolonial and Berlin Postkolonial, which address local histories of colonialism.
“This debate should not be limited to demands for

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December 14, 2018 at 12:23pm

World Trade Center’s New Performing Arts Complex Receives $89 Million Grant

The Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts, the major arts complex being built at the World Trade Center site in New York, has been awarded an $89 million grant by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding brings the center 82 percent of the way to meeting its total building construction costs.
“We are deeply grateful to the LMDC for their support to help realize the dream of creating a performing arts center in Lower Manhattan that will serve the local community, New Yorkers from all five boroughs, New Jersey

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December 14, 2018 at 12:06pm

Frieze Shareholder to Return $400 Million Saudi Investment

Following the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Hollywood entertainment firm and major Frieze Art Fair shareholder Endeavor is in the process of returning the entirety of a $400 million investment by a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, reports the Art Newspaper.
Amid the international uproar over Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the dissident journalist’s death—the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency concluded last month that the Saudi crown prince ordered the killing—both arts and non-arts institutions around the world began to reconsider their ties with

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December 14, 2018 at 10:50am

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Appoints Abby Chen Head of Contemporary Art

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has tapped Abby Chen to head its department for contemporary art. Chen comes to the institution from the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, which she has helmed since 2006, and will take up the newly created post on January 7, 2019.
“We are thrilled to welcome Abby to the team because she is, above all, a bridge-builder,” Jay Xu, director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum, said in a statement. “She builds bridges between audiences and art, between artists and institutions, and between institutions and important ideas and issues that we all confront today.”

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