Art Industry News: Neighbors Hate Ai Weiwei’s Public Art Project Already + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Gerhard Richter donates an artwork and Steven Klein shoots Kim Kardashian inside the National Arts Club.

A rendering of Ai Weiwei's upcoming Washington Square installation. (Photo courtesy of Ai Weiwei Studio: Frahm & Frahm.)

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 Tuesday, August 29.

NEED-TO-READ

Alex Israel’s Film Is Coming to iTunes – The first feature film by the Angeleno artist—an homage to teen beach flicks from the 1980s and ’90s—won’t be released in a white cube. After a Hollywood premiere on September 21, SPF-18 will be available exclusively through iTunes on September 29. It hits Netflix a month later. (ARTnews)

Gerhard Richter Donates Work for German Memorial – The German artist is donating a photographic version of his 1987 painting Aunt Marianne to a memorial in Saxony dedicated  to the victims of forced euthanasia under the Nazi regime. The painting, which sold in 2006 to a Taiwanese businessman for nearly $4 million, shows the artist as a baby held by his aunt, Marianne Schönfelder, who died in a Nazi mental institution after she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. (DPA)

Neighbors Unhappy With Ai Weiwei’s Public Art – Greenwich Village residents are up in arms over the Chinese artist’s planned installation in Washington Square Park, which deals with the migration crisis. Unnerved by its political content, the community had an “almost universally negative” response, according to Washington Square Association president Trevor Sumner. (Gothamist)

Mexico Creates Police Unit to Protect Cultural Heritage – The new division of the Federal Police seeks to improve the country’s poor record safeguarding its cultural heritage. But some wonder whether the unit will be able to challenge the often ineffective and corrupt regional and state police officers. (DW)

ART MARKET

Hauser & Wirth Plans Major Arte Povera Show – Curated by the eminent collector Ingvild Goetz, the exhibition will gather over 150 works tracing the history of the Italian art movement, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The show, which opens September 12, includes work by Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, and more. (Press release)

Stefan Simchowitz on Vanity Fair’s Hive Podcast – The man described as the “Donald Trump of the art world” opens up about how he got his reputation, how Silicon Valley is influencing the art market, and where the art world is headed (but not his role in the new Jennifer Lawrence horror movie). (Vanity Fair)

A Gallery Wants to De-Gentrify Brooklyn (Good Luck!) – The commercial gallery Housing is taking over a space formerly occupied by another gallery, American Medium, in Bed-Stuy. Its director says: “The gallery aims to de-gentrify the space, effectively supporting the practices of black artists and non-black POC.” (ARTnews)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Finalists for Betty Bowen Award Announced – The Seattle Art Museum has announced the five finalists for this year’s Betty Bowen Award, a regional prize of $15,000 awarded to an artist working in the Northwest. The winner, who also earns a show at the museum, will be announced in September. (Stranger)

Newseum Head Steps Down in Turmoil – These are tough times for journalists and also for the Newseum, the DC institution devoted to the First Amendment, which, despite its popularity, is facing dozens of layoffs, the possible sale of its landmark building, and now the sudden departure of its president and chief executive, Jeffrey Herbst. (Washington Post)

Hammer Museum Taps New Board Members – Longstanding patron and real estate executive Linda Janger has been appointed to the Hammer’s board of directors, while two new members, artist Glenn Kaino and collector Dean Valentine, have joined its board of overseers. (Press release)

Judith Linhares Nabs Artist Award – The Brooklyn-based painter has received the $25,000 award from the Artists’ Legacy Foundation for her lush figurative paintings. The award is given each year to an artist who has made significant contributions to the field and whose hand is visible in his or her work. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

South Street Seaport Museum Gets Another Major Grant – The museum has been promised $4.5 million from New York City to stabilize and restore a historic lightship, the Ambrose, which led boats into lower New York Bay during a period of major immigration between 1908 and 1932. (NYT)

A List of Emergency Resources for Artists – As the Texas art community begins to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, Houston organization Fresh Arts has compiled a spreadsheet of emergency resources for artists, while a local curator is pulling together a list of those affected by the storm. (Glasstire)

Carolina Herrera to Show Spring Collection at MoMA – The designer has announced plans to host her Spring 2018 runway show in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art on September 11. The event marks the first time a designer has had a full-blown runway show at the museum. (WWD)

Kim Kardashian Poses Inside the National Arts Club – Photographer Steven Klein has captured popular America’s first lady, Kim Kardashian West, for a spread in Interview magazine. The shoot is an eccentric, fever-dream visual homage to Jackie Kennedy, and may be further teasing Kanye’s fabled run for president. (Interview)

Photo: Steven Klein, courtesy Interview Magazine.

Photo: Steven Klein, courtesy Interview Magazine.

Photo: Steven Klein, courtesy Interview Magazine.

Photo: Steven Klein, courtesy Interview Magazine.

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