Art Industry News: How Houston’s Museums Steeled Themselves for Hurricane Harvey + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Performa will spotlight African artists and a new drawing fair comes to Paris with big ambitions.

Flooded homes are shown near Lake Houston following Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Photo Win McNamee/Getty Images.

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 Thursday, August 31.

NEED-TO-READ

Trevor Paglen Plans World’s First Space Sculpture – The American artist is working to send yet another artwork into space. This spring, he’ll launch a reflective satellite into low orbit, where its shimmering mass will be visible from Earth for around eight weeks. (New York Times)

Italy Relaxes Export Rules for Art – After a two-year debate, Italy has approved new legislation that will make it easier to move postwar Italian art out of the country—a development that could be big news for the art market. Now, private owners can export their works without a license up to 70 years after the work was made, rather than 50 years. (The Art Newspaper)

How Houston Museums Prepared for Harvey – Before the tropical storm descended on the country’s fourth-largest city, local museums—from the Contemporary Arts Museum to the Menil Collection—developed elaborate contingency plans to protect their buildings and collections. (Huffington Post)

Pink Floyd Bests Bowie at the V&A – The exhibition devoted to the English rock band is poised to overtake the David Bowie blockbuster as the V&A’s most-visited music show ever. The Bowie retrospective in 2013 drew 311,000 visitors, while Pink Floyd’s has already reached 300,000—and it’s still running for another six weeks. (The Guardian)

ART MARKET

New Drawing Fair Comes to Paris – The Fine Arts Paris fair—which will debut with 30 international galleries at the Palais Brongniart from November 8 to 12—seeks to fill the gap left by the Old Masters fair Paris Tableau, which closed two years ago, and compete with La Biennale Paris. (TAN)

What’s Going on With Sotheby’s Stock?  Since the stock’s recent peak in the $57 range in late July, there has been a correction of more than 20 percent, with shares now trading in the mid-$40 range. Experts attribute the dip to the summer auction hiatus and the fact that the stock may have been overvalued following the May earnings call and record-breaking Basquiat sale. (Art Market Monitor)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Plans Finalized for Crystal Bridges Satellite – In early 2020, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas will open a satellite arts space, called The Momentary, in a former Kraft cheese factory. The museum has hired Belgian musicologist Lieven Bertels to lead the project. (ARTnews)

NGA Seeks Investment Chief – Tykie Tobin plans to end her long tenure as director of investments at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC this fall and the hunt for her replacement is on. If you have what it takes to manage an $850 million endowment, get in touch! (Institutional Investor)

Jochen Volz Nabs ICI Award – The German curator has won the 2017 Agnes Gund Curatorial Award, also known as the “Aggie.” Independent Curators International will present Volz and the 2017 Leo Award winner, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, with their trophies at the organization’s annual benefit on October 25. (ARTnews)

Prospect.4 to Honor Lynda Benglis – The Louisiana artist will be honored at this year’s Swamp Galaxy Gala on November 17 to celebrate the opening of the New Orleans triennial. The evening’s other honorees are Holly Block, William Fagaly, Thelma Golden, and the late Barkley L. Hendricks. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

New Play Tackles Warhol and Capote’s Relationship – Blake Gopnik interviews playwright Rob Roth ahead of the debut of his two-man show, which is based on 80 hours of taped conversations between Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. Over a decade in the making, “WARHOLCAPOTE” opens at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater on September 7. (NYT)

Performa to Spotlight African Artists – This year’s edition of the New York biennial for performance art (November 1–19) will include two new programming platforms: a “South African Pavilion Without Walls” and “Afroglossia,” a series of commissions featuring artists from Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, and South Africa. (ARTnews)

Robert Longo Installation Comes to Hunter College – American Bridge Project, the artist’s new public work, features a series of vinyl renderings of the First Amendment and the American flag. It will be installed on the skywalks above Lexington Avenue in Manhattan until December. (NYT)

‘Broad City’ Cast Creates Downloadable Trump Art – Looking to up your protest game? The feminist comedy duo Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer have your back. The “Broad City” stars have compiled homemade anti-Trump posters by various artists on their website and are making them available to download for free. (Huffington Post)

The Path of Most Resistance. Poster by Karl and Craig.

Anti-Trump. Poster by George Boorujy.


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