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 Thursday, February 2.
NEED-TO-READ
Tate Privacy Ruling Sets Worrying Precedent – Commenting on the U.K. top court’s decision in favor of the owners of the glass-walled apartments next to Tate Modern, architecture critic Oliver Wainwright writes: “It suggests that the mere ability of others to look through your windows is enough to have people banished, that space shut down, and the surrounding urban environment regulated so that nothing may impinge on your own personal bubble.” The court concluded that visitors at the museum’s viewing gallery peeping into those multi-million dollar apartments was a case of nuisance. (Guardian)
Destination Crenshaw Nears Opening – Sankofa Park, the “crown jewel” of the 1.3-mile public art corridor celebrating “Black Los Angeles” is expected to debut this fall. The sculpture park on Crenshaw Boulevard will feature permanent outdoor sculptural installations by artists including Kehinde Wiley, Charles Dickson, Artis Lane, and Maren Hassinger. (LA Times)
Anish Kapoor Finally Bakes Bean – The artist has unveiled his first permanent public work in New York, nestling at the base of the Jenga towner designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Hill West Architects. Referencing Kapoor’s most famous sculpture in Chicago—Cloud Gate, nicknamed “the Bean”—the new smooth and shiny sculpture, looks like a bean being squeezed beneath the building’s cantilevering structure. It took four years and between $8 million and $10 million to complete. (designboom)
Museums Deprioritize Conservation – Major museums across Europe including Guggenheim Bilbao and Rijksmuseum have relaxed their restrictions on temperatures and humidity levels in some galleries in order to save money amid soaring energy costs. Trials showed that the relaxation of conservation standards do not damage the works, the museums said. (NYT)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Lisson Delays Its L.A. Opening – The opening of the gallery’s new outpost in Hollywood originally scheduled for fall last year has been postponed to April 15 due to construction and planning delays. (Financial Times)
Antiquities Sleuth Named President of Harvard Law Review – Apsara Iyer, a first-generation American who is the first Indian-American woman to helm the august law journal, has worked for years at the Manhattan D.A.’s office, where she has helped to repatriate more than 1,000 stolen works to 15 countries. “There’s a direct link between destruction of art or the theft of art and other issues that we recognize as being of a policy importance” she said. (Reuters)
Whitney Union Protests at Fundraiser – The protest took place on January 31 outside a fundraising event at the museum, where unionized workers welcomed passersby and Art Party-attendees by handing them out flyers saying that the museum still rejects wage increases despite historic inflation levels and wage disparities. (Artforum)
This Artwork Is Heading to the Moon – Dubai-based artist Sacha Jafri’s We Rise Together–By the Light of the Moon is headed to the stratosphere, hitching a ride on a rocket powered by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin engines. The small engraving of multiple hearts surrounding two figures is set against a gold background and will be placed in a crater to remain “for eternity,” while on earth a series of 88 NFTs will be released for earth-bound collectors. (CNN)
FOR ARTS SAKE
Football Sculpture to Take the Stage at Super Bowl – Hank Willis Thomas’s 10-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture will feature at the gridiron’s biggest game of the year at the Glendale, Arizona-based stadium. Titled Opportunity (reflection), the work features a muscular arm, outstretched and reaching for a football, resembling the Vince Lombardi trophy awarded to the winning team. (New York Times)