1.
Hitler sold in New York
Controversial statue of Adolf Hitler made by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan sold for a record $17.2 million at a Christie’s auction in New York. The statue, titled Him, is made of wax and portrays the former German chancellor as a young schoolboy kneeling in prayer. Buyers came from over 30 countries, but more than half were from the U.S., said Christie’s global president, Jussi Pylkkanen. He also revealed that “three or four” institutions acquired works, but declined to say which institutions or which works.
2.
Mutiny in Amsterdam
After Lorenzo Benedetti was fired as director of the de Appel arts centre in Amsterdam in September 2015 and a Dutch court upheld his dismissal, the members of the board of trustees at de Appel have now resigned “in part due to the developments surrounding the dismissal of director Benedetti,” according to an announcement on the center’s website. The Amsterdam District Court ruled that different interpretations of the role of director were the principal reason for his firing.
3.
The first Manifesta in France
Months before the opening of its 11th edition in Zurich, the Manifesta biennial has announced that its 13th edition, scheduled for 2020, will take place in Marseille. Local museums, like the FRAC Marseille and the the Musée d’art contemporain, and local initiatives, such as the successful residency program run by Triangle France, have turned the southern port city into an attractive destination for artists and art lovers alike.
4.
Who will win the Turner Prize
Tate Britain announced four nominees for the annual Turner Prize: Michael Dean, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten, and Josephine Pryde. For the first time in five years, all candidates have hailed from Britain. The museum will host an exhibition of the nominees’ work from September 27 through January 9 and the winner of the prize, selected by a four-person jury headed by Alex Farquharson, Tate Britain’s Director, will be announced via broadcast on the BBC in early December.
5.
Italy finally spends money for culture
The Italian government announced a major investment of €1 billion into the country’s iconic, but crumbling, museums and cultural sites. Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini said that it “the biggest investment in Italy’s cultural heritage in the history of the republic. The funds will be invested into restoration and rebuilding of 33 museums, monuments and archaeological sites
6.
Yuri Pattison to create big installation at Frieze 2016
The Frieze Art Award has announced that the 2016 recipient is Yuri Pattison. The prize, awarded from an open call for proposals of site-specific work from artists between the ages of twenty-five and forty, is part of the fair’s non-profit programming, Frieze Projects. The London-based artist’s winning proposal explores “trending data” and involves the installation of large monitors throughout the fair that will collect and present information. The screens will be used to explore the politics of data-driven systems.
7.
François Morellet died at 90
French artist François Morellet, widely recognized as one of the key figures in concrete and kinetic art, passed away a few days after his 90th birthday. He enjoyed a long and illustrious international career, which included more than 130 solo exhibitions at institutions. “It seems to me that humour, irony, derision and frivolity are the necessary spice to make squares, systems and all the rest of it digestible,” he once said in an interview.
8.
A new director for the Rijksmuseum
Taco Dibbits, Rijksmuseum’s head of collections, has been promoted to become the director general of the Dutch national museum of art and history. He takes over from Wim Pijbes in July . Under Dibbits, who is an expert in 17th century painting, the institution has built up a substantial photography collection as well as worked with leading contemporary artists and designers.
9.
A vagina-kayak in Japan
Megumi Igarashi, a Japanese artist who works under the pseudonym Rokudenashiko, was fined almost $3,800 in a Tokyo district court after she was found guilty of distributing obscene images. The artist was first arrested in July 2014 after she distributed 3-D scans of her vagina. Igarashi sent the data to anyone who donated $25 to her crowdsourcing campaign, which raised funds that she used to build a kayak modelled after her genitals.
10.
Train-Art
Normandy region (France), in partnership with SNCF (the French train national company), created Le train de l’impressionism to propose an exploration of impressionist works, such as those of Claude Monet, Pissarro and Berthe Morisot, from a different point of view and travelling through their hometowns and places where their paintings are exhibited into museums.
Silvia Meloni
Featured image: Him (2001), Maurizio Cattelan
CuratingtheContemporary (CtC) 