News

November 20, 2018 at 3:08pm

Marja Sakari to Lead Helsinki’s Ateneum Art Museum

Marja Sakari has been named as the new director of the Ateneum Museum in Helsinki. She comes to the institution, which is one of the three venues that make up the Finnish National Gallery, from the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, where she serves as the chief curator of exhibitions. She will take up the post in December.
The board praised Sakari’s expertise in art historical research, museum work, and exhibitions as well as her experience as acting director of the Kiasma and as head of the Institut Finlandais in Paris in its announcement on the change in leadership. Sakari succeeds Susanna

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November 20, 2018 at 2:39pm

Turkish Cultural Figures Detained Amid Government Crackdown on Freedom of Expression

On November 16, Turkish police arrested thirteen cultural workers, including academics and employees of the Istanbul–based NGO Anadolu Kültür (Anatolian Culture)—a nonprofit advocating for artistic rights and cultural diversity. The detainees were charged with “creating chaos and mayhem” and “seeking to overthrow the government” for their support of the 2013 Gezi Park protests, which began as a small-scale demonstration by environmental activists and grew into a national uprising following violent clashes with demonstrators and police.
The Istanbul Security Directorate released a statement

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November 20, 2018 at 12:10pm

Florida City Affected by Gun Violence Receives $1 Million Public Art Grant

The city of Coral Springs, Florida, in partnership with the city of Parkland, has been awarded a $1 million public art grant by the charitable organization Bloomberg Philanthropies to realize projects on gun violence following the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, which left seventeen people dead.
As part of the project “Inspiring Community Healing After Gun Violence: The Power of Art,” five artists— Kate Gilmore, Carl Juste, Steven and William Ladd, and R&R Studios—will be enlisted to make works that will be placed across both cities. “The Marjory

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November 20, 2018 at 12:00pm

Experts Urge France to Permanently Restitute Looted African Art

After declaring the restitution of African artworks a top priority, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and French art historian Bénédicte Savoy in March to make plans for the repatriation of African art and artifacts in French museums. According to a preview obtained by Le Point of the resulting 108-page document—which will be released in full on Friday, November 23, at the presidential Elysée Palace in Paris—the experts support the permanent restitution of African art and artifacts that were acquired through “theft, looting, despoilment,

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November 20, 2018 at 9:32am

New York’s Museum of Modern Art Gifted $40 Million from Leon and Debra Black

At the Museum of Modern Art’s annual film benefit on Monday, November 19, the institution’s board chair Leon Black, and his wife, Debra, revealed that they planned to donate $40 million to MoMA’s ongoing expansion project. The $400 million refurbishment will increase exhibition space by 30 percent and add flexible spaces dedicated to contemporary design, performance, and film.
In honor of the gift, MoMA announced that it will create the Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, comprising multimedia galleries and two state-of-the-art theaters, in the Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder Building. “Throughout

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November 19, 2018 at 5:47pm

Philadelphia Contemporary Receives Major Gift

Philadelphia Contemporary, the nomadic contemporary art organization founded by Harry Philbrick in 2016, announced that it has received a significant gift from longtime supporters of the Philadelphia arts community Sueyun and Gene Locks. The gift comes on the heels of the institution’s hiring of architectural firm Johnston Marklee to design its new permanent home in West Philadelphia.
The funds will enable the arts space to underwrite its artistic director position, currently held by Nato Thompson, for the next three years. Thompson assumed the role in November, 2017 after serving as artistic

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November 19, 2018 at 5:22pm

Gary Ryan Appointed Executive Director of Virginia MoCA

The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach has named Gary Ryan as its new executive director. Ryan comes to the institution from the Katonah Museum of Art in Westchester, New York, where she served as director of development. Prior to joining the non-collecting museum, Ryan was chief executive of Palermo Strategy, a consulting firm she founded in 2014, and worked in development roles for institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
“A museum outside of a cultural center, even just forty miles outside, can play a really important role in bringing

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November 19, 2018 at 7:23am

Glenn Lowry to Remain Director of New York’s MoMA Through 2025

In a surprise move, the board of New York’s Museum of Modern Art has extended the contract of director Glenn D. Lowry, who will lead the institution for seven more years, Jason Farago of the New York Times reports. Lowry’s term was supposed to end in 2020 following the completion of its major expansion project.
The extension bends the museum’s longtime policy that stipulates senior management retire at sixty-five, and Lowry, who is sixty-four-years old, had previously told the New York Times that he would respect the rule. The board’s decision to keep Lowry at the helm of the institution will

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November 19, 2018 at 7:04am

Metropolitan Museum of Art Revives Plans for Modern and Contemporary Art Wing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has revealed that it will move forward with its plans to redesign its modern and contemporary art galleries. The institution first announced that it would overhaul its Southwest Wing, the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, in 2014, but postponed the $600 million project in 2017 in order to curb a $10 million deficit. Since then, the Met has welcomed Max Hollein as its new director, worked on stabilizing its finances, and initiated talks with the Frick Collection, which may take over the Met Breuer in 2020.
According to the New York Times, following the museum’s

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November 18, 2018 at 3:46pm

Arnaldo Roche Rabell (1955–2018)

Arnaldo Roche Rabell, the oil painter widely considered to be one of Puerto Rico’s most significant artists, died yesterday at age sixty-two. The cause was lung cancer, according to Walter Otero, whose gallery represents the artist. In the 1980s, Roche Rabell gained international recognition for his textured, sensual figurative neo-expressionist canvases, which resulted from complicated layering techniques. In his works, Roche Rabell often grappled thematically with memory, political turbulence, consciousness, and the medium of painting itself.
Born in 1955, Roche Rabell trained under Lope Max

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November 16, 2018 at 6:00pm

Penske Media Purchases Artnews and Art in America from Peter Brant

Penske Media Corporation (PMC) has acquired Art Media Holdings, LLC—the parent company of Artnews and Art in America—from collector and business magnate Peter Brant in a deal said to have cost between $20 million and $25 million. Alan Mnuchin, brother of current US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and son of Robert Mnuchin of the blue-chip Mnuchin Gallery, advised Penske on the deal, reports Artnet. Penske has not previously been involved in the art world, though he currently controls sixteen publications and entertainment and luxury brands, including Rolling Stone, the Robb Report,

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November 16, 2018 at 2:11pm

MoMA PS1 Art Handlers and Maintenance Workers to Stage Action in Protest of Unfair Wages

On Sunday, installation and maintenance workers belonging to the union Local 30 will stage an action to bring attention to their ongoing wage negotiations at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, reports Artnews. MoMA PS1 installers are paid between $20 and $30 hourly, while their Manhattan counterparts at MoMA can make up to $47 an hour, according to Local 30. The union is currently negotiating with the museum’s management to raise the rates at MoMA PS1 to between $30 and $40 for their new contract; the last one expired on October 31.
“It’s just pretty amazing that an institution that, on its

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