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 Wednesday, July 26.

NEED-TO-READ

AAM Issues Open Letter Criticizing Berkshire Museum – The American Alliance of Museums has publicly condemned the museum’s decision to deaccession 40 works from its collection—including two Norman Rockwells and an Alexander Calder sculpture—to fund a $60 million reinvention plan. (ARTnews)

Syrian Collective Protests Use of Their Films – Abounaddara accused curators at Milan’s La Triennale of screening their work without permission. Curators claimed they weren’t formally exhibiting the films, but merely displaying the collective’s online Vimeo channel on monitors. Now, the collective has pulled most of their videos from the Internet. (The New York Times)

Koons and Gagosian Among Owners of NYC’s Biggest Mansions – This map of New York mega-mansions offers a peek at how the other .001 percent live. Check out Jeff Koons’s noisy $32 million Upper East Side property and Larry Gagosian’s nearby $36.5 million mansion, which he apparently got for a steal. (Curbed)

Art-World Figures Defend Village Voice Union – In an open letter to the current owner of the legendary alternative newsweekly, prominent art writers and journalists, including Jerry Saltz and Hilton Als, critique his move to weaken the paper’s union. (Medium)

ART MARKET

Meet the Collector Behind Getty’s Record Acquisition – Sources say that the Los Angeles institution bought its new Old Master trove from collector Luca Padulli, a co-founder of a British investment management company, who amassed his holdings over the past 17 years. (The Art Newspaper)

How Do You Put a Price Tag on VR Art? – VR art can range from $2,500 for an emerging artist’s work to $300,000 for the latest by Paul McCarthy. But as the bleeding-edge form gains popularity, the market will have to contend with new challenges, including evolving equipment, the threat of piracy, and the creation of scarcity. (CNN)

Christie’s Nabs $10 Million Kandinsky – The painting Improvisation mit Pferden (1912), estimated between $10–20 million, is among 180 works from the collection of a French couple that will be sold across auctions in New York, Paris, and Geneva. (Art Market Monitor)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Murray Reich Distinguished Artists Announced – Marion Estes and Mario Martinez are the winners of this year’s award, given to artists over 50 years of age. The distinction comes with a $10,000 cash prize. (Artforum)

University of Chicago Gets Vintage Vivian Maier Photos – Collector John Maloof has gifted the university nearly 500 vintage prints, a camera, and personal effects of the photographer. Maloof came across Maier’s never-before-seen body of work in 2008 after buying several of her storage lockers at auction. (Artdaily)

New $100K Land Art Prize Awarded – Aboriginal land artist Peter Mungkuri is the winner of the inaugural Hadley’s Art Prize. He received the award for his ink-on-paper drawing depicting his birthplace of Fregon in Central Australia. (Artinfo)

Roman Ondák Wins 2018 Lovis Corinth Prize – The conceptual artist, who hails from Slovakia, is the recipient of next year’s award. Established in 1974, it is given every two years to artists connected to Eastern Europe. (Mass Email)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Richard Deacon Gives the RA a Makeover – The artist has installed 21 works by fellow Academicians on the Royal Academy’s sculpture ledge ahead of the blockbuster Matisse exhibition opening next week. (TAN)

Two New Rachel Whiteread Works for Joshua Tree – Under close supervision of the artist, publisher Jerry Sohn has installed concrete casts of the interiors of two abandoned shacks from the 1950s in his remote desert sculpture park. (WSJ Magazine)

Guerrilla Girls to Speak at the Dallas Museum of Art – The famous all-female art collective’s “Käthe Kollwitz” will speak at the museum’s Late Night Talk on Friday, August 18. (Glasstire)

Banksy’s Girl With Balloon Voted the UK’s Most Popular Artwork – Overtaking John Constable’s 1821 painting Hay Wain, the street artist’s stencil has been voted the nation’s most beloved work of art. (The Guardian)

A version of Banksy’s Girl With Balloon at Bonhams in 2007. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.