News

  • Éric Baudelaire, 2019. Photo: Manuel Braun. Courtesy of the Centre Pompidou.
    October 15, 2019 at 3:57pm

    Éric Baudelaire Wins France’s Marcel Duchamp Prize

    On Monday, October 14, the Franco American filmmaker Éric Baudelaire was selected as the winner of the 2019 Marcel Duchamp Prize. Administered by the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Association pour la Diffusion Internationale de l’Art Français (ADIAF), the nearly $40,000 award is France’s biggest art prize. While Baudelaire is the nineteenth recipient of the honor, he is only the second filmmaker to win the accolade—the first was Clément Cogitore, who received the prize last year. 

    Katinka Bock, Marguerite Humeau, and Ida Tursic & Wilfried Mille were also shortlisted for the prize. In a statement,

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  • Melissa Chiu. Photo: Greg Powers. Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
    October 15, 2019 at 1:27pm

    Melissa Chiu to Curate Third Honolulu Biennial

    Melissa Chiu, director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, has been named curator of the third edition of the Honolulu Biennial, which will open in February 2021. Since joining the Hirshhorn in 2014, Chiu has organized exhibitions by Shirin Neshat, Robert Irwin, Yayoi Kusama, and Charline von Heyl, among others. A specialist in contemporary art from Asia and the Pacific, she also served as museum director and senior vice president, global art programs at Asia Society in New York for over a decade.

    “Dr. Chiu is key figure in building the global dialogue around contemporary

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  • Tino Sehgal in front of Accelerator. Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger. 
    October 15, 2019 at 11:45am

    Accelerator, an Exhibition Space Dedicated to Art and Science, Opens in Stockholm

    Accelerator, a new exhibition space that aims to spark interdisciplinary dialogue through programming focused on the intersections between art, science, and social issues, opened in Stockholm last month. Inaugurating the space, which is part of Stockholm University, is “This Progress,” an exhibition of work by Tino Sehgal that was previously shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

    Following Sehgal will be the first presentation in Sweden of the French artist Cyprien Gaillard and a survey of the Stockholm-based artist Johanna Gustafsson Fürst. Known

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  • Oba Qween Baba King Baba by Ni’Ja Whitson at Danspace Project. Photo: Ian Douglas. Courtesy of The Bessies.
    October 15, 2019 at 10:31am

    Recipients of 2019 Bessie Awards Announced

    The recipients of the thirty-fifth annual Bessie awards, which recognize outstanding creative work in dance and performance, were announced at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University on Monday, October 14. Hosted by performance artist Justin Vivian Bond, the award ceremony honored Nick Cave’s production of The Let Go at the Park Avenue Armory; performers Gabrielle Hamilton and Shamar Watt; the visual design team of Oba Qween Baba King Baba by Ni’Ja Whitson, which was co-commissioned by Danspace Project and Abrons Arts Center; and choreographer Daina Ashbee, among

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  • Ettore Spalletti. Photo: Attilio Maranzano.
    October 14, 2019 at 5:25pm

    Ettore Spalletti (1940–2019)

    Ettore Spalletti, the Italian painter of time-intensive, subtly diffused semi-monochromes in shades of blue, pink, and gray, has died at age seventy-nine. The son of a carpenter and an embroiderer, Spalletti began his practice in the early ’70s in his place of birth, Capelle sul Tavo, in the Italian province of Pescara, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

    Though Spalletti’s early artwork was made under the aegis of the country’s then-dominant Arte Povera movement—Jannis Kounellis was a friend, neighbor, and inspiration—the artist soon left behind what he termed “the

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  • Ruby City. Photo: Dror Baldinger. Courtesy of Ruby City and Adjaye Associates.
    October 14, 2019 at 5:17pm

    Linda Pace’s Ruby City Opens in San Antonio

    Ruby City, the contemporary art center that was dreamed up by the late artist and philanthropist Linda Pace, opened in San Antonio, Texas, on October 13. Pace envisioned a ruby-red home for her art collection shortly before she died of breast cancer in 2007. Designed by David Adjaye, the 14,472-square-foot museum houses more than nine hundred paintings, sculptures, installations, and video works and is free to the public. Inaugurating the space are three exhibitions: “Waking Dream, “Isaac Julien: Playtime,” and “Jewels in the Concrete,” which will be on view until 2022.

    In order to honor the

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  • Enda Bowe, Cybil McCaddy with Daughter Lulu, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
    October 14, 2019 at 1:18pm

    National Gallery of Ireland Awards Zurich Portrait Prize to Enda Bowe

    The National Gallery of Ireland has named artist Enda Bowe as this year’s winner of the Zurich Portrait Prize, an annual award that recognizes exemplary portraiture produced by artists from across Ireland. Bowe was selected for his photograph of a mother and a child in East London and will receive a cash prize of $16,500 and an additional $5,500 to create a new work for the gallery.

    Commenting on the work, which is part of the ongoing project “Clapton Blossoms,” the artist said: “This portrait traces the emotional connection between a new parent and her baby, evoking traditional compositions of

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  • Inseon Kim. Photo: Cheolki Hong.
    October 14, 2019 at 1:01pm

    Inseon Kim Appointed Artistic Director of 2020 Jeju Biennale

    The Jeju Museum of Art (JMOA) in South Korea has named Inseon Kim, the founder of the Seoul-based nonprofit Space: Willing N Dealing, as the artistic director of the second edition of the Jeju Biennale, which will kick off in May 2020. Kim will work with curator Leeji Hong to shape the curatorial vision for the event.

    “The preparation of the biennale has officially begun,” said JMOA director Jeong-ju Choi, who added that the biennial will pay homage to Jeju Island’s unique identity and serve as a platform for interdisciplinary artists. The inaugural biennial, which focused on tourism and how it

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  • Maria Berrio, The Oracles’ Silence, 2019. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
    October 14, 2019 at 12:24pm

    Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Acquires Thirteen Works

    The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) has added thirteen works to its collection, including paintings, works on paper, and collages that date from 1905 to 2019. Among the acquisitions are seven works by women artists, including Maria Berrio, Catherine Murphy, and Marie Watt, as well as PAFA alumnus Arcmanoro Niles, and the inaugural artist-in-residence at PAFA’s Brodsky Center, Jonathan Lyndon Chase.

    “The museum is focused on expanding the breadth and depth of our permanent collection with works that reflect the diversity of voices across American art history,” said director Brooke

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  • John Giorno. Photo: Marco Anelli.
    October 12, 2019 at 7:15pm

    John Giorno (1936–2019)

    John Giorno, whose kaleidoscopic work fused and furthered poetry, visual art, and activism, has died at age eighty-two. He is survived by his husband, the Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone. From the 1960s onward, Giorno was a vital countercultural force in postwar New York, where—from his legendary “Bunker” on the Bowery, his studio/loft for over five decades—he first collaborated with lovers such as Robert Rauschenberg, William S. Burroughs, and Andy Warhol, whose silent “anti-film” Sleep (1963) stars a naked Giorno. The artist recently enjoyed a late-career renaissance, in part for his

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  • National Gallery in Prague’s Fair Trade Palace building, which houses modern and contemporary art.
    October 11, 2019 at 5:11pm

    Anne-Marie Nedoma Named Interim Director of Prague’s National Gallery

    The Czech Ministry of Culture has appointed economist Anne-Marie Nedoma interim director of the National Gallery in Prague, Monopol reports. Nedoma will be responsible for managing the museum while it looks for the right candidate for its top post, which has been vacant since Jiří Fajt was dismissed in April. The search will be led by a newly formed advisory board, chaired by architect Josef Pleskot.

    Fajt, a German Czech art historian who helmed the gallery for five years, was unexpectedly fired by former minister of culture Antonin Stanek, who also dismissed Michal Soukup, the head of the Olomouc

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  • Bourse de Commerce in Paris.
    October 11, 2019 at 12:26pm

    François Pinault to Open Contemporary Art Museum in Paris in June 2020

    The French billionaire art collector François Pinault announced that his $170 million contemporary art museum in Paris is slated to open next June near the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou. The Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection will be housed in the city’s old stock exchange, in a building designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Tadao Ando, and is to host ten exhibitions a year drawing from Pinault’s collection.

    The plans for the venue were previously reported to encompass 9,850 square feet of exhibition space, a black-box theater, and an auditorium. Earlier this year, Pinault

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