Art Industry News: What Happens to Art After the Fair + More Must-Read Stories

Plus, Martha Atienza wins the top prize at Art Basel and day sales at auction houses emerge as key indicators of the art market's state.

Interior of the Luxembourg Freeport. Image courtesy Atelier d'Architecture.

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, June 16.

NEED-TO-READ

What Happens to Art After the Fair? — With Art Basel reporting strong sales, one might wonder where all the purchased art goes once the deal has been made. Are most of the works fated to collect dust in fancy storage facilities? Georgina Adam, author of the forthcoming Dark Side of the Boom, investigates. (The Art Newspaper)

Harald Szeemann’s Archive to Go on View — The exhibition will be made up of over 300 photographs, videos, and objects of personal correspondence that provide insight into the late curator’s life and relationships with artists. It will open during next year’s Art Basel at the Kunsthalle Bern. (The Art Newspaper)

French Art Takes Center Stage in Washington, DC — At the National Gallery of Art in the US capital, two summer exhibitions put 18th century French art in the spotlight. Jason Farago argues that the shows reflect on how French art might have influenced early America. (New York Times)

A Look at the Life of Louis Kahn — Two new books delve into the late architect’s life and legacy. Kahn at Penn: Transformative Teacher of Architecture explores his time as an educator; You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn has been dubbed a “masterpiece.” (The New York Review of Books)

ART MARKET

Stanford’s Anderson Collection Receives 13 New Works — The university’s permanent collection has grown by 13 after being gifted works by Bill Jensen, Manuel Neri, and Mary Weatherford. (Art Market Monitor)

186 Photographs Donated to the Getty — The Los Angeles museum has received a massive gift from prominent film industry executive Bruce Berman, who gave 186 works by 26 artists, including Harry Callahan, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Camilo Jose Vergara. (Press release)

Moniker Art Fair Shakes Up the Fair Model — For its eighth edition, the London art fair will take the form of a 30,000-square-foot installation hall conceived by American artist Bill Daniel. (Press release)

Do Day Sales Matter? — Charlotte Burns, Jori Finked, Judd Tully, and Amy Cappellazzo discuss the art media, with Burns arguing that day sales at auction houses are overlooked in reporting, and are undervalued indicators of the state of the art market. (Art Agency, Partners

COMINGS & GOINGS

Paul O’Neill Joins Checkpoint Helsinki — The contemporary art initiative in Finland has appointed O’Neill as Artistic Director, where he joins after leaving his post as director of the Graduate Program at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. (ARTnews)

London’s National Portrait Gallery Receives £9.4 Million — The National Lottery has awarded a hefty £9.4 million ($12 million) to go towards overhauling the museum. The project entails a re-hanging of the entire collection and a renovation that will provide 20 percent more gallery space. (ArtDaily.com)

Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art Announces Dates — The first edition of the Latvian biennial RIBOCA, which will be curated by Katerina Gregos and Solvej Ovesen, will take place from May 31 to June 2, 2018. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Performance Artists Protest at Trump Tower — Some two dozen artists are staging performances in the skyscraper’s public garden to protest the president’s plan to eliminate the NEA. The performances are part of Take Trump Tower, a group that has been consistently holding anti-Trump events at the building. (Hyperallergic)

Montreal Museum to Host Leonard Cohen Exhibition — “Leonard Cohen – A Crack in Everything” will open at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal (MAC) on November 9, one year after Cohen’s death. (Rolling Stone)

Court Strikes Down Ruling That Cost Museum Directors Their Jobs — Italy’s top court has suspended a previous ruling that caused the firing of five museum directors across the country. They were initially hired to revitalize Italy’s flailing museum system. (Euronews)

Policemen of Kassel Get Mistaken for Performance Artists — Every five years, the otherwise provincial German city of Kassel becomes overrun by the art world. Immersed in the haughty discourses of documenta, visitors forget that policemen are there for reasons other than art. (Hessenschau.de)

Martha Atienza Wins the Top Prize at Art Basel  — The Dutch-Filipino artist won the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel for her work, Our Island, 11°16`58.4” 123°45`07.0”E, which focuses on current issues and events in her native Philippines. (ABS-CBN News)

A film still from Our Islands 11°17’19.6”N 123°43’12.5”E. by Martha Atienza. Image via Baloise Group.


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