Our weekly news roundup is an extension of Paint Drippings, which drops first in The Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know art industry intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access—subscribe now to receive this in your inbox every Friday.
Art Fairs
– Art Basel Miami Beach attendees should expect some “subtle refinements” to its layout, according to its director, Bridget Finn, who was hired in the summer of 2023. The biggest switch: Meridians, its five-year-old sector for large-scale works, will be staged right alongside the fair’s 280-plus exhibitors for the first time, rather than in a dedicated area. Miami Basel runs at the Miami Beach Convention Center from December 4 to 8. (Artnet News)
– Frieze London’s director, Eva Langret, has been overseeing what she calls a “facelift” for the fair, which will have a new entrance and layout designed by the local firm A Studio Between that aims to enhance the visibility of its curated sections. See what else she said is in store for this year’s edition, opening October 9. (Artnet News)
Auction Houses
– The auction market was quiet in the United States and Europe in August, but big things were happening Down Under: More than half of the top 10 priciest lots were hammered in Sydney by Smith and Singer (originally Sotheby’s Australia). (Artnet News)
– Frieze Week’s London evening auctions are estimated to bring in at least £123.2 million ($161 million) across Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips next week. The same sales brought in £112.8 million ($147.9 million) last October. (Artnet News)
– Art from the collection of the revered curator Kasper König, the Skulptur Projekte Münster co-founder who died earlier this year, at 80, totaled some €6 million ($6.6 million) at the Van Ham auction house in beautiful Cologne. The top lot: a 1967 On Kawara date painting, which made €1.06 million ($1.17 million). (The Art Newspaper)
Galleries
– Peter Freeman, Inc. is opening a new location in Paris at 7, rue de Montpensier. The New York dealer previously had a space in the French capital between 2006 and 2013. (Press release)
– Emmanuel Perrotin will open a new gallery in London’s five-star Claridge’s hotel in 2025. The French dealer closed down a Dubai space in February. (Press release)
– L.A.’s Regen Projects has appointed Laila Pedro as director. (Press release)
– Hauser and Wirth now represents Jeffrey Gibson globally in collaboration with Sikkema Jenkins and Co., David Zwirner announced the representation of Victor Man, Alia Ahmad has joined White Cube,Hollis Taggart has taken on the estate of Charles Cajori, Alison Jacques has added Donald Locke to its roster, and Berry Campbell now reps the estate of Janice Biala. (Press releases)
Jeffrey Gibson, 2023. Photo: Brian Barlow.
Institutions and Organizations
– The U.K.-based advisory Gurr Johns will open its first branch in Paris, led by Anika Guntrum, former vice president of Christie’s Paris. The firm will introduce an “Anglo-Saxon model of independent advisory” in a French market dominated by private advisors and banks. (Press release)
– Zoë Ryan, the current director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, will take the helm at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 2025, succeeding Ann Philbin. (Press release)
– Plans for a Centre Pompidou satellite space in Jersey City, New Jersey, are back on track after local politicians pulled funding from the project over the summer, saying that it would require too much taxpayer money. (Artnet News)
Rendering of the new Centre Pompidou x Jersey City project now scheduled for construction. Courtesy of the Jersey City Mayor’s Office. © All rights reserved.
– The London-based nonprofit Asymmetry and SculptureCenter in New York are launching a curatorial fellowship in 2025. This is Asymmetry’s first international collaboration. (Press release)
– A new museum in Trondheim, Norway, will open in February 2025. Called PoMo, it will dedicate 60 percent of its acquisitions budget to women artists. Featured in its collection so far are works by Ann Veronica Janssens, Anne Imhof, Cui Jie, Franz West, Simone Leigh, and Sol LeWitt. (Press release)
– The Rothschild Foundation, a U.K. arts and culture charity, has appointed Roger Wright as its chief executive. (Press release)
Tech and Legal News
– Christie’s Ventures announced new investments in two firms: Luxus, a fintech company focusing on the luxury business, and Dubbl, which specializes in ultra-realistic 3D object scanning. Christie’s Ventures targets “early-stage companies at the nexus of art and technology” and now has 12 companies in its portfolio. (Press release)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Humidity (1982).
– A U.S. magistrate judge said that a Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s Humidity that was used by disgraced dealer Inigo Philbrick in his massive art fraud belongs to Alexander “Sasha” Pesko, a collector misled by Philbrick, and not the high-profile art lender who he also misled. Pesko has been fighting it out with Athena Art Finance for more than five years in court filings that detail a complicated and conflicting series of transactions by Philbrick, who was released from federal prison this year, after pleading guilty to wire fraud in 2021. (Artnet News)
Awards and Prizes
– Murmur, a new initiative that brings together the worlds of art and music to fund environmental change, has unveiled the first recipients of its funding program. They include Impala, the Independent Music Companies Association, and Repórter Brasil, an NGO that works at the intersection of supply chains, human rights, slave labor, and environmental issues. The charity has also launched Murmur Artist Support, a new initiative that will work with artists who want to speak up on climate. (Press release)