News

  • French soldiers walk past closed Christmas markets in Strasbourg on Thursday, December 13. Photo: dpa.
    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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  • Kasper König.
    December 14, 2018 at 4:25pm

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

    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 conduct

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  • The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Photo: David Heald.
    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 the history of the museum. Museumgoers will be invited to celebrate with the institution by ordering one of the its

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  • Detail of Wang Hui and Jiao Bingzhen’s painting, Portrait of An Qi in His Garden, a gift from collector Wan-go H. C. Weng. Photo: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
    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 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 gifts

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  • Robin Nicholson. Photo: The Frick Pittsburgh.
    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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  • A bronze head from the Kingdom of Benin, now Nigeria, from the collection of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Photo: MKG Hamburg.
    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 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 restitution or

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  • Rendering of the Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts at the World Trade Center in New York. Photo: REX Architecture.
    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 City, 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

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  • Frieze Art Fair.
    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’s 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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  • Abby Chen. Photo: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
    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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  • Ralf Beil. Photo: Marek Kruszewski.
    December 14, 2018 at 10:17am

    Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg Director Ousted, Cites Infringement on “Curatorial Freedom”

    Ralf Beil, director of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg since January 2015, was released from his duties today. Both Beil and the museum announced the end of his directorship in separate statements. While the nature of the departure remains unclear, Beil alluded to internal disputes and the infringement on artistic and curatorial freedom by the museum.

    The institution, which opened in 1994, is a privately-sponsored organization funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and receives project-based support from Volkswagen Financial Services AG. Otmar Böhmer, the managing director and board member of the Art

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  • Subodh Gupta. Photo: Dia Bhupal.
    December 13, 2018 at 2:26pm

    Artist Subodh Gupta Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations

    Prominent Indian sculptor, painter, and installation artist Subodh Gupta was accused of sexual harassment in a post by the Instagram account Scene and Herd (@herdandscene) last night. The anonymous poster alleges that Gupta has a history of engaging in unwanted advances and touching, making inappropriate comments, and asked an assistant to pose nude despite multiple refusals. India’s Economic Times reports that one of the claims against Gupta concerns his curatorship of Delhi’s 2018 Serendipity Arts Festival, which opens Saturday.  

    Since October, the @herdandscene Instagram account—which

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  • Leonor Antunes. Photo: Nick Ash.
    December 13, 2018 at 1:25pm

    Leonor Antunes Wins $100,000 Zurich Art Prize

    The Berlin-based Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes has won this year’s Zurich Art Prize. Administered by the Museum Haus Konstruktiv and backed by Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., the award comes with a $100,000 prize, $80,000 of which will go toward staging a solo exhibition at the institution that will be on view from October 31, 2019 to January 12, 2020.

    Recognized for their contributions to contemporary art, Antunes and shortlisted artists Claudia Comte, Wyatt Kahn, Eva Kot ́átková, Magali Reus, and Ignacio Uriarte were nominated for the prize by a group of six art professionals. The winner was

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