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 Tuesday, September 27.
NEED TO READ
Zehra Doğan Speaks Out for Iranian Women – The Kurdish artist and journalist staged a performance using henna, hair, and menstrual blood in front of the Iranian consulate in Berlin on Monday to show her support of women protesting in Iran and Rojhilat. Doğan and Ulaş Yunus Tosun, the journalist who filmed the artistic stunt, were taken into custody by the German police; they were released Monday afternoon. (Anf)
Whitney Museum Workers’s ‘Byeeenial’ – The low morale among visitor-services employees at the New York museum has not improved following protests earlier this summer, workers say. High turnover has resulted in staff shortages; frustrated employees even came up with creative names for a Slack channel where they bid farewell to colleagues: “Staff Byeeenial” and “Quitney.” (Hyperallergic)
Meet the Art World’s New Child Prodigy – Andres Valencia has not yet started middle school, but he already has a solo show in New York and made a splashy auction debut in Hong Kong. His surrealist-style paintings can fetch prices as high as $230,000. “If you see a kid doing sketches on paper with a market, a lot of people think that those drawings should not be put in a gallery,” he said. “Sometimes older people just don’t get it.” (New York Times)
Turner Prize Winner Gets Her First Commercial Show – British artist Tai Shani will inaugurate the new London gallery Gathering with her first commercial exhibition in the U.K. The gallery has a mission of supporting artists who largely operate outside the art market. (TAN)
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Carnegie International Awards Top Prizes – Artists LaToya Ruby Frazier, Malcolm Peacock, and Hyphen have been named winners of the Carnegie International Prizes for their participation in the 58th edition of Carnegie International, which opened last week. (ARTnews)
A First-Edition Harry Potter Could Fetch Six Figures – A first-edition hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first installment of the teen wizard series by J.K. Rowling, will be offered at an auction in November organized by Propstore. It is expected to fetch around £150,000 ($161,975). (Evening Standard)
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Names Deputy Director – Jessica Whittaker will lead the museum’s financial division, business planning, and visitor experience. She most recently served as director of visitor services at the Cleveland Museum of Art. (STL Today)
D.C. Gets Another Art Museum – The nonprofit Arlington Arts Center, which has a 50-year history in Washington, D.C., will reopen on October 1 as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Arlington, as it positions itself as a premier hub for artists and the only art museum in Arlington County. (TAN)
FOR ART’S SAKE
Artists Named for the U.K.’s First Monument to the Slave Trade – London-based artist Harun Morrison and horticulturalist Antonia Couling’s public artwork The Anchor, The Drum, The Ship (2022) will be installed in London’s Gladstone Park on October 14, to coincide with Black History Month. (Press release)
Digital Render of Harun Morrison’s The Anchor The Drum The Ship (2022) in Gladstone Park.