Environmental activist Ester Goffi speaks to the press at her court trial in the Vatican. The Ultima Generazione demonstrated in support of Goffi and Guido Viero outside the courthouse. Photo: Vincenzo Nuzzolese/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
Environmental activist Ester Goffi speaks to the press at her court trial in the Vatican. The Ultima Generazione demonstrated in support of Goffi and Guido Viero outside the courthouse. Photo: Vincenzo Nuzzolese/SOPA Images/LightRocket via 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 on this Wednesday, June 14.

NEED-TO-READ

Private Museums Report Reveals New Data – The second edition of Larry’s List’s Private Art Museum Report has revealed key findings about privately-owned contemporary art museums around the world, based on a joint research project with the University of Amsterdam. Of the 446 private contemporary art museums, Germany has the most with 60, just edging out the United States, with 59. The report also notes that 82 percent of all private museums were founded after 2000. (Larry’s List)  

Awardees of Baloise Art Prize at Basel – Artists Sky Hopinka and Sin Wai Kin are the recipients of the 2023 Baloise Art Prize—each was awarded CHF 30,000 ($33,000), and their works were acquired by Baloise and donated to the MMK Frankfurt and MUDAM in Luxembourg. Hopinka’s four-channel film Just a Soul Responding probes the trauma of losing indigenous traditions; Sin Wai Kin’s works Portraits is inspired by Peking and Cantonese operas and examine themes of masculinity and femininity. (Yahoo Finance)  

Climate Activists Sentenced for Vatican Incident – Guido Viero and Ester Goffi, two members of the activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation), were convicted of aggravated damages and must pay more than $30,000 in restitution for gluing their hands to a sculpture. They also received a fine and nine-month suspended sentence. In August of last year, the duo glued themselves to the Vatican’s Laocoön and His Sons as part of international efforts to raise awareness about climate change. (ARTnews)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Japan Names Venice Biennale Artist – Artist Yuko Mohri has been selected to represent Japan at the 2024 “Olympics of the Art World,” and Sook-Kyung Lee will curate the Giardini-based exhibition. Tokyo-based Mohri’s installations and sculptures respond to “phenomena” in the environment, especially sound. Lee is a senior curator at Tate Modern and served as the artistic director for the Gwangju Biennale. (Press release)

New Chair of Contemporary Art at MFA Boston – Ian Alteveer will leave his post as curator of modern and contemporary art at the Met in New York and head north to helm the department of contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Alteveer begins his new role on September 13. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Paul Newman Sale at Sotheby’s Exceeds Expectations – The trove of objects belonging to the late actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, dubbed Hollywood’s “Golden Couple,” fetched $4.3 million, nearly tripling the presale estimate of $1.5 million. The “white glove” sale of 341 lots included Rolex Daytona watches, photographs, and film and entertainment memorabilia. (Press release)

Paul Newman congratulating driver Sebastien Bourdais of the #1 McDonald’s Newman Haas Lanigan Racing Panoz DP-01 after winning the Champ Car World Series Grand Premio Tecate on November 11, 2007 at Autodromo Hermonos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images.