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, May 31.

NEED-TO-READ

Art From Ancient Christian Bakers Found in Rome – Archeologists using lasers to peel back layers of sediment in the Catacombs of Domatilla discovered a series of 1600-year-old frescoes commissioned by Roman bakers who were among the early waves of the city’s gradual conversion from paganism to Christianity. (New York Times)

South African Cape Party Sues National Gallery – In January, members of the political party were filmed fighting with staff from the Iziko South African National Gallery and vandalizing work at the exhibition, “F*** White People,” by Dean Hutton. Now, the Cape Party—led by Jack Miller, a white businessman—is suing the museum on the grounds of “racial hatred.” (IOL)

Anne Imhof Discusses ‘Faust’ in London – Following her success at the 2017 Venice Biennale, Imhof traveled to London to discuss her Golden Lion-winning work with German pavilion curator Susanne Pfeffer and the Serpentine Gallery’s Hans Ulrich Obrist. Imhof names Michelangelo, Basquiat, and Francis Bacon as influences. (ARTnews)

New Museum Plans Show Devoted to Gender-Bending Artists – The exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon” will take up three floors of the museum, and examine gender as a spectrum through the work of artists like Vaginal Davis, House of Ladosha, Wu Tsang, and many more. (Press release)

Tate Britain’s Hockney Retrospective Breaks Attendance Record – A whopping 478,082 visitors flocked to the London museum to enjoy the retrospective of David Hockney, making it the most-visited exhibition of a living artist ever held at any Tate Museum. (Press release)

ART MARKET

Could Algorithms Disrupt the Art Market? – Scientists and analysts are looking for ways to predict art market trends through mathematical modeling and machine learning. Will collectors someday place their trust in numbers, rather than advisers and auctioneers? (Financial Times)

Montreal Museum Nabs Famed Louis XIV Sketch – The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) has acquired the modello (or painted sketch) for Hyacinthe Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV in Royal Ceremonial Robes (1701). (Press release)

Auguste Rodin’s Rediscovered Andromede Triples Auction Estimate – The marble sculpture, which hadn’t been on the market since 1888, fetched $4.1 million at Artcurial in Paris, soaring past its high estimate of $1.3 million. (Press release)

COMING & GOINGS

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Opens Last Show in Vienna – This week, TBA21 is opening the final show in its Vienna space—the ocean-inspired exhibition “Tidalectics”—before the collection relocates to the National Gallery in Prague next year. (The Art Newspaper)

Vero Beach Museum Appoints New Curator – Danielle Johnson has been appointed curator of modern and contemporary art at the Florida museum, taking up the post on July 10. Johnson is currently teaching in New York University’s Department of Art History. (Press release)

Sarah Contos Wins First Ramsay Art Prize ­­– The Australian artist has been awarded the inaugural Ramsay award, which comes with a $75,000 cash prize, as well as the acquisition of one of her works for the Art Gallery of South Australia’s permanent collection. (Adelaide Review)

FOR ART’S SAKE 

Anselm Kiefer Gets First Solo Show in Russia ­­– To commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the German artist is staging a show at the State Hermitage Museum dedicated to the Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov. The show, which features 30 new works inspired by Kiefer’s visit to St Petersburg last year, is co-organised with Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. (TAN)

Doctors Are Diagnosing Fine-Art Masterpieces – The latest art meme? #MedicalizeArt, in which doctors diagnose works of art across social media. For example, according to a med student, Vincent van Gogh suffered from “surgical removal of auricle secondary to recurrent malignant otitis externa.” (TIME)

Museum Mile Festival Will Bring You Salsa Lessons for Free – On June 13, dozens of exhibitions, performances, and events will be open with free admission as part of the Museum Mile Festival on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Activities include free salsa lessons at Museum of the City of New York, so grab your dancing shoes. (DNAinfo)

Google and Others Honor Zaha Hadid on the Anniversary of Her Pritzker Prize Win – The late architect was the first woman to win the prestigious architectural prize on this day in 2004, and Google has released a doodle in homage.

Here Are Those Ancient Roman Bakers by the Way –

A detail of the restored fresco of “dei Fornai” (bakers) cubicle, is pictured during a visit after the restoration of the catacomb of Santa Domitilla, in central Rome, on May 30, 2017. Photo ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images).