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 on this Wednesday, February 19.
NEED-TO-READ
Cecilia Alemani Unveils High Line Commissions – As soon as a curator is appointed artistic director of the Venice Biennale, every decision they make is read as a preview of what’s to come at the art world’s most closely watched exhibition. So there is extra interest in the latest round of commissions from Cecilia Alemani, Venice’s 2021 pick, on New York’s High Line. She is planning a “music-minded” group exhibition and two sculpture presentations set to launch in April by Hannah Levy and Ibrahim Mahama. The group show, called “The Musical Brain,” will include work by Raúl de Nieves, David Horvitz, Mai-Thu Perret, Naama Tsabar, and Antonio Vega Macotela. (ARTnews)
Academy of Art Students Wrestle With Debt – With 13,000 students, the San Francisco Academy of Art says it is the “largest private accredited art university in the US”—even though three out of four students never graduate. Median salaries within a year of graduation range from $19,100 to $46,500, while those very same graduates will have possibly racked up more than $400,000 in debt. A federal lawsuit by four ex-employees is accusing the Academy of Art of using illegal schemes to bait students. They allege that the school illegally adjusted recruiters’ salaries depending on how many students they registered and dangled trips to Hawaii as an incentive. They also claim that the school lied to the government in order to collect millions in financial aid. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Kendall Jenner Teams Up With Maurizio Cattelan – Fresh off her purchase of a James Turrell work at Frieze Los Angeles, Kendall Jenner has unveiled her latest magazine cover—and it’s got major contemporary-art star power. Jenner teamed up with Maurizio Cattelan to recreate some of his most famous artworks, including the cover image, a twist on his bust of model Stephanie Seymour posed as a ship’s figurehead. In a portfolio shot by British-Ghanian fashion photographer Campbell Addy, Jenner also poses with pigeons (a reference to Cattelan’s installation at the 54th Venice Biennale) and tapes Addy to the wall as a twist on Cattelan’s viral banana stunt at last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach. (Press release)
Drawing Center Goes Free for Three Years – The Drawing Center in New York has received a multi-year grant from the Cy Twombly Foundation that will enable it to offer free admission though February 2023, starting… tomorrow. The Drawing Center noted that when it piloted free admission during its recent exhibition The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists, it saw a 50 percent increase in attendance and welcomed a significant number of first-time visitors. (Press release)
ART MARKET
Hong Kong’s Galleries Carry on Despite Coronavirus – Despite new quarantine rules and the cancelation of the 2020 editions of Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central, Hong Kong galleries are finding a way to operate. Several have adjusted their opening hours or are offering viewings by appointment. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department says state-run museums will reopen on March 3. (SCMP)
Bjarne Melgaard Gets a Norwegian Gallery – Norwegian artist and provocateur Bjarne Melgaard has joined a gallery in his home country. He is now represented by Oslo-based VI, VII, which will present its first first project with the artist at the new June art fair in Basel. (Email)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Smithsonian Provost Takes the Helm at Cooper Hewitt – The Smithsonian’s provost John Davis is taking up interim directorship of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum after its director, Caroline Baumann, was ousted over allegations that she misused her position to earn favors for her wedding. (Six trustees resigned in protest over her departure, arguing the punishment was far too harsh to fit the crime.) The museum is now forming a search committee to hunt for Baumann’s permanent replacement. (The Art Newspaper)
Oolite Arts Names Architects for New Home – The Barcelona-based architecture firm Barozzi Veiga will design the new Miami home for Oolite Arts after the organization dedicated to supporting artists, formerly known as the ArtCenter/South Florida, sold its old headquarters in South Beach in 2014. The new HQ is slated to open in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood in 2022. (Press release)
David Adjaye and Cai Guo-Qiang Win Noguchi Award – The Ghanaian-British architect and Chinese artist have won the seventh edition of the annual Isamu Noguchi Award. The award celebrates artists continuing the legacy of the Japanese-American artist and architect, who was committed to East/West cultural exchange. (Artforum)
Pérez Art Museum Miami Awards 2020 Prize – The Pérez Art Museum Miami has awarded its second annual $50,000 Pérez Prize to the artist Daniel Lind-Ramos. The prize recognizes recent achievements in artistic innovation, and Lind-Ramos was honored for his work exploring Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American themes. (Artforum)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Planet Word Comes to DC – A new interactive museum dedicated to words is opening in Washington, DC, at the end of May. Founded by a former first-grade teacher, Ann Friedman, Planet Word aims to “bring language to life,” with artists commissions and interactive displays that seek to engage visitors in language and reading. (Washington Post)
Simon de Pury Is Moonlighting as a DJ – The former auctioneer (and onetime music-video star) recently announced he will be heading a gallery in the UK. But that’s not all he’s up to: he is also returning to the DJ booth. Thomas Hug, the director of artgenève, artmonte-carlo and artmoscow, will host a music night in London at Elephant West featuring 10 music sets. The two-day event ends with a DJ set by Simon de Pury, while Hug will perform with his band La Stampa, which includes guitarist and Frieze editor-at-large Jörg Heiser. (Press release)
Museum Funding Could Fund a Freeway Instead – A UK town council wants to take £4.8 million ($6.2 million) in funds raised for the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and redirect them toward building an extra lane on the M4 freeway. The plan to expand the museum fell through after authorities failed to raise sufficient funding. (BBC)
Monet Is Now a Digital Experience – A new museum at Terrada Warehouse in Tennozu, Japan, called the Immersive Museum aims to repeat the success of experiential pop-ups and teamLab’s light installations by showing light projections of famous masterpieces. The inaugural show, slated for April 17, will focus on Impressionism and project works including Monet’s famous Water Lilies around the space. (Time Out)