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 Friday, January 28.

NEED-TO-READ

Slovenia Slashes Arts Funding – Under its right-wing administration, Slovenia’s ministry of culture has cut NGO funding in half, denying public funding to arts organizations that have relied on it in the past. The nonprofit Maska Institute said the bulk of the organizations denied support produced or sponsored socially engaged work that is at odds with the views of the ruling Slovenian Democratic party. “Cutting funding has become a means of punishment and suppression of speech and creativity,” a representative said. (Artforum)

Banksy’s Model Village Sells for More Than $1 Million – The owners of a model village that Banksy secretly visited during his “summer spraycation” in Great Yarmouth last year have sold a miniature stable the artist left behind for a whopping £1 million ($1.3 million) at auction. The sale of the stable, which was made and signed by Banksy and daubed with the words “go big or go home,” will ensure the future of the model village. (Evening Standard)

Marcel Breuer House Demolished – The Long Island house known as Geller I, designed by Breuer in 1945, was demolished by its current owners earlier this month. Historians and preservationists decried the move, noting that changing dynamics in the housing market and loose landmarking rules have put modernist architecture at risk. “There is so much education needing to be done so that people are more aware of that history,” said Liz Waytkus, executive director of the architecture preservation nonprofit Docomomo US. (New York Times)

Stephen Breyer Is Keeping That Other Job – There have been a lot of headlines in the United States about Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retiring from an important position he’s held for decades. But don’t worry—while he may be stepping down from the nation’s highest court, he will remain a member of the jury for the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor. He has held the position since 2011. (NYT)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Biennale de Lyon Unveils Artist List – The Biennale de Lyon has revealed the artists taking part in its 2022 edition, which opens in September. They include Toyin Ojih Odutola, José Davila, and Taryn Simon. Curators Sam Bardaouil and Tim Fellrath—who were recently named directors of the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin—have titled the exhibition “Manifesto of Fragility.” (ARTnews)

Liverpool Biennial Names Curator – The Cape Town–based curator Khanyisile Mbongwa has been named curator of the next Liverpool Biennial, slated to take place in from June to September 2023. Mbongwa defines her curatorial focus as “curing and care—using the creative to instigate spaces for emancipatory practices, joy, and play.” (ARTnews)

U.S. Artists Fellows Revealed – Sixty-three artists including Melissa Cody, Olu Oguibe, and Lonnie Holley have been awarded a 2022 fellowship by United States Artists, a Chicago non-profit that offers direct-to-artist grants. Winners come from 23 states and Puerto Rico. The organization has handed out more than $36 million to more than 750 artists since 2006. (ARTnews)

A New Director for Petzel Gallery – Francesco Longenecker has joined Petzel as its new director. An alumnus of Pace, Cheim & Read, and Pace/MacGill galleries, Longenecker will lead secondary market sales at the gallery. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

David Byrne Goes Back to Basics – Connectedness takes the center stage of the artist’s show at Pace Gallery in Chelsea, which features 48 drawings completed over the past two decades. “I’m trying to imagine connections between things that we don’t normally think of as being connected,” the artist said. “I just thought, let’s see if I can let my imagination run free with that.” (New York Times)

Artist Places Statue of Kobe Bryant at Crash Site – Artist Dan Medina has erected a four-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna at the site of the helicopter crash that killed them, as well as seven others, two years ago. On the statue’s base, Medina has inscribed the words: “Heroes come and go, but legends are forever.” (Los Angeles Daily News)

A bronze statue of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna by sculptor Dan Medina of West Hills is is placed at the helicopter crash site in Calabasas on the second anniversary of the tragedy. Medina had to carry the roughly 160-pound bronze sculpture, including the steel pedestal over one mile to the crash site. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)