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 Tuesday, March 20.
NEED-TO-READ
Creative Time Will Team Up With Art Basel – The Messeplatz will transform into a public meeting space during Art Basel thanks to Creative Time. For its first project in the Swiss city, the New York public art nonprofit will open “Basilea,” an auditorium designed by the Spanish architects Recetas Urbanas. It will host performances and talks from May 23 through June 17. (The Art Newspaper)
Congress Bans Taxpayer-Funded Portraits – Private donors covered the $500,000 price tag to commission Barack and Michelle Obama’s recent portraits, but official government portraits are usually funded by the public through taxes. Now, with bipartisan support, US Congress has passed the Eliminating Government-Funded Oil-Painting Act and is waiting on Trump’s signature to make the bill a law. (Artsy)
Banksy Strikes Again in New York – Banksy has been busy since making his return to New York for the first time in five years last week. His latest handiwork, completed in a former gas station in Midwood, Brooklyn, is a mural depicting a besuited (and helmeted) Wall Street executive using the spiked line from a stock chart as a demonic whip to oppress women, children, an elderly man, and even a poor little puppy. He also created a smaller mural of a seal balancing a golden orb on its nose. (Hyperallergic)
The Artist Who Abducted the Nymphs Defends Her Decision – Sonia Boyce, the artist behind the temporary removal of JW Waterhouse’s painting of nymphs from Manchester Art Gallery, was surprised by the public backlash. She says taking the 19th-century painting down was not meant as censorship, but a way to start a discussion about the curatorial decisions museums make. Many women, she says, were “uneasy about the way gender was represented in the galleries.” (Guardian)
ART MARKET
ART HK Co-Founders Reunite to Launch Taiwan Fair – Taipei is getting a new art fair in January 2019. Taipei Dangdai (Taipei Contemporary) will be led by Magnes Renfrew and the three other co-founders of Art HK, which became Art Basel Hong Kong after it was sold in 2011 to MCH Group. The new fair is presented by UBS. (South China Morning Post)
Third-Party Guarantees Are Hindering Sales – According to data shared by Christine Bourron, the head of the fine-art financial services company Pi-Ex Ltd, there has been exponential growth in third-party guarantees over the past 11 years. But guaranteed lots did not perform better—in fact, they performed worse. (Art Market Monitor)
Perrotin Announces Architect of Shanghai Space – The gallery has tapped architect André Fu and his design studio AFSO to build his Shanghai space, which is due to open in late 2018. Uli Zhiheng Huang, Joye Zhu (currently directors at Perrotin Hong Kong), and Jessie Xie will be co-directors of the gallery. (Press release)
COMINGS & GOINGS
Berlin’s Humboldt Forum Announces New Director of Collections – The vacancy at the new ethnographic museum in the rebuilt Berlin Palace has finally been filled. The ethnomusicologist Lars-Christian Koch has been promoted internally, after the internationally renowned Inés de Castro abruptly turned down the position in February. (Monopol)
Portland Museum Lets People Under 21 Visit Free – As of April 11, Maine’s Portland Museum of Art is offering free admission to everyone under the age of 21 with the new Susie Konkel Pass, named for the philanthropist who backed the initiative. (Artforum)
Art Jameel Announces Fall Opening – The Saudi-based nonprofit arts organization will open its new space in Dubai on November 11. The center will present works commissioned by the Abraaj Group Art Prize, including the 2018 winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan. (TAN)
Sharjah Foundation Names its Grant Award Winners – The Sharjah Art Foundation has selected Mounira Al Solh, Doa Aly, Fatma Belkıs and Onur Gökmen, Taus Makhacheva, Joe Namy, and Ghassan Salhab as the awardees for its 2018 production program. The grant awards a total of $200,000 for the production of new works. (Press release)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Anselm Kiefer Spreads His Wings at the Rock – The German artist has created a dramatic sculpture with a 30-foot wingspan for New York’s Rockefeller Plaza. Beginning May 2, his first public work in the city will stand on a 20-foot-high column surrounded by lead books. The Public Art Fund’s Nicholas Baume said that he and Kiefer spent years hunting for the right site. (New York Times)
Artist Designs NBA T-Shirts—With a Twist – Polish artist Filip Pagowski has given 30 NBA logos and names a makeover for Nike, designing T-shirts for teams including the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics. Previously, Pagowski created the famous heart logo for Comme des Garçons. (Press release)
VR Project to Recreate Picasso’s Biggest Sculptures – A Florida-based art historian hopes to create virtual reality simulations of Picasso’s 15 large-scale concrete sculptures, as well as his never-realized, 120-foot-tall Bust of a Woman at the University of South Florida in Tampa. (TAN)
Russians Dance on Ice to Protest Putin’s Victory – Russian street artist Slava Ptrk has posted a video of 100 activists waltzing on a frozen lake in Yekaterinburg as an elegant protest of Vladimir Putin’s landslide election victory. When the couples stop, a bird’s eye view reveals their shadows create a message: “Fuck It, We’re Dancing.” They then carry on the waltz. (Moscow Times)
