Art Industry News is a daily summary of the most important developments in the art world and the art market. Here’s what you need to know this Friday, March 31.
NEED TO READ
Did MoMA inadvertently release Putinist propaganda? – The New York Museum has changed the wall text of Frances Stark’s work America’s Greatest Hits Mixtape Volume 1 (2019) after complaints were aired about the work on social media. The original wall text stated that the series examined the history of US military intervention in six countries, including “Ukraine (2013)”. However, rather than a US military intervention, late 2013 saw the development of large-scale protests that escalated into the inaugural revolution in early 2014. The same year also saw Russia invade Ukraine and annex Ukraine. Crimean peninsula. The curatorial team and the artist decided to remove the years listed in the caption after an outcry on social media. (ART news)
Activists stop auction of Indigenous artifacts – More than two dozen protesters from multiple tribal groups showed up at the Mebane Antique Auction Gallery in North Carolina after learning of the sale of a 600-year-old Native skull on social media, citing that state laws could not prevent the sale. They eventually managed to stop the sale. However, the sale highlighted the confusion between state and federal human remains laws of Native American communities. (ART news)
Met returns artifacts to India – The New York museum has announced that it will return 15 sculptures, all associated with disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor, to the Indian government. As part of ongoing cooperation with the DA’s office, the Met has also removed three pieces of Turkish origin from view, as part of a criminal investigation into Turkish sites Bubon and Perge. (Press release)
Phillips’ Future Amid Ongoing Russian War In Question – The accounts of the Russian-owned British auction house cast doubt on the company’s financial situation. This shows that the house relies heavily on the guarantees provided by Leonid Fridlyand and Leonid Strunin, the founders of the largest Russian retailer Mercury Group, which owns the house. Both are not subject to Western sanctions, but as the war in Ukraine continues, it is unclear what impact the sanctions will have on Russian economies and those with financial ties to Russia, which could affect their ability to finance the business. (Guardian)
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Guggenheim Union Stages Rally at the VIP openings – Members of UAW Local 2110 protested outside the museum as visitors flocked to the VIP openings for Gego and Sarah Sze. The staff union has been negotiating for more than a year with the institution, which has offered a four-year contract with “only nominal salary increases”. (instagram)
Jenny Schlenzka leaves the performance space for Gropius Bau – The executive artistic director of New York’s veteran Performance Space since 2017 is leaving to take the reins of the Berlin-based exhibition hall. German-born Schenzka said she was leaving the position having done “pretty much everything I had in me that I wanted to do”, and that the space could benefit from someone “with more energy and new ideas”. (New York Times)
Anselm Kiefer wins German national prize – The artist received the coveted prize worth €30,000 from the German National Foundation in Hamburg for his “impressive works” and is among the first generation of German artists “to deal directly with the question of identity and the nation after the war and the Holocaust.” (Die Ziet)
Silverlens strengthens its list – Stephanie Syjuco, Poklong Anading and Taloi Havini have all joined the gallery, which is “dedicated to representing artists from the Southeast Asian diaspora”. Syujuco’s first exhibition at the gallery will take place in Silverlens Manila in 2024; Havini will show at the New York outpost; and an online viewing presentation with Anading will mount later in 2023. (Press release)
FOR THE ARTS
Gerhard Richter’s gift to Berlin is visible – The long-term loan of 100 works by the famous artist to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will finally be exhibited at the Neue Nationalgalerie from April 1 to 2026. The works on display reflect the career of the Cologne-based artist from the 1980s to the present day. . (DW)
Exhibition view, “Gerhard Richter. 100 Works for Berlin”, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, 1 April 2023 to 2026 © Gerhard Richter 2023 (31032023) (Photo: David von Becker)
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