Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know this Wednesday, March 30.

NEED-TO-READ

Amsterdam’s Hermitage Museum Will Swap Dutch for Russian Art – Amsterdam’s Hermitage Museum, which cut ties with its Russian parent institution, Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum. earlier this month after 30 years, will rename itself the Dutch Heritage Museum. As part of the rebrand, it will shift its focus to Dutch art, with a forthcoming display of The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer, on loan from the Rijksmuseum. (Monopol)

Sound Artist Mira Calix Has Died – The South Africa-born, U.K.-based artist and composer (b. 1970) was a pioneer in experimental music and created work that spanned film, theater, and mixed-media installations. While she largely worked within the music industry, she also made music for art installations. As she once said of her challenging work, “Art isn’t just for arseholes. People can handle it.” (Pitchfork, Guardian)

Cecilia Vicuña Will Tackle Turbine Hall – What a year for Cecilia Vicuña. On the heels of news that she will be awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the upcoming Venice Biennale, Tate Modern has tapped the 74-year-old Chilean artist and poet to create the Hyundai Commission for Turbine Hall, one of the biggest stages for contemporary art. Vicuña—who will also stage a project later this year in the Guggenheim rotunda in New York—is best known for textile sculptures that mix natural materials and traditional craftwork. The Tate installation opens October 13. (Press release)

The E.U. Parliament Condemns Azerbaijan’s Destruction of Armenian Heritage – A resolution adopted in European Parliament (with 635 votes in favor, two against, and 42 abstentions) “strongly” condemned the “erasure of Armenian cultural heritage” in the South Caucasus, calling it “part of a wider pattern of a systematic, state-level policy of Armenophobia, historical revisionism, and hatred towards Armenians promoted by the Azerbaijani authorities.” The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been the center of a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2020, and cultural heritage has frequently been weaponized. (Hyperallergic)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Sotheby’s Names New Director – Sotheby’s has appointed Daniel Asmar as managing director for the Middle East and North Africa. Asmar, who begins his new role on April 4, joins from the financial sector and will be based in Dubai. (ARTnews) 

MoMA Opens a Ukrainian Gallery – The Museum of Modern Art in New York has reinstalled its collection to devote space to artists born in Ukraine. Called “In Solidarity,” the gallery features works by Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Ilya Kabokov, Kazimir Malevich, and Louise Nevelson. Many of the artists included in the presentation are Jewish-Ukrainians. (ARTnews)

Kojo Marfo Announces NFT Project – Ghanaian artist Kojo Marfo will mint a new NFT collection next month in collaboration with London’s JD Malat Gallery. The series, called “The Strangers,” incorporates references to Pablo Picasso and traditional African masks. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

See Canada’s LGBTQS2+ Monument – Canada has chosen the winning design for its national LGBTQS2+ monument, which will be installed in Ottawa in 2025. The $8 million work is inspired by a thundercloud and disco balls and encompasses a stage, herb garden, and healing circle. The winning team includes architecture firm Public City Inc.’s Liz Wreford, Peter Sampson, and Taylor LaRocque; visual artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan; and Indigenous and two-spirit advisor Albert McLeod. (designboom)

 

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