1.
Wilkinson Gallery closes after 19 years
The founders of Wilkinson Gallery in East London have announced that they will close the space at the end of July. Amanda and Anthony Wilkinson said they are “dissolving their partnership” for personal reasons. The co-owners first opened the gallery on Cambridge Heath Road in Bethnal Green in 1998, and in 2007, they bought a larger space on Vyner Street. The gallery became known for being one of the first in London to mount exhibitions by major female artists.
2.
Courtaud Institute’s new Chairman
Lord John Browne of Madingley has been named new chairman of the Courtauld Institute and will take his post in September. He has previously held a number of positions at major cultural organisations. From 1995 to 2005, he was a trustee of the British Museum, since 2007, he’s been a trustee at Tate, and will step down from his role as chairman this summer. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as chairman of the international advisory board of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.
3.
A great Bloomberg donation
Michael R. Bloomberg, the 108th mayor of New York City, has gifted $75 million to The Shed, a new visual and performing arts center under construction on the far West Side. Daniel L. Doctoroff, the Shed’s chairman and president, said that with Bloomberg’s donation, the venue has raised $421 million of its $500 million capital campaign. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, the venue will feature two gallery spaces, a five-hundred-seat theatre, an event and rehearsal space, and a free lab for the creation of new work. It also boasts of a moveable shell that can expand the building when needed to provide large-scale indoor and outdoor programming.
4.
Paris Musée Dapper to shut down
The Musée Dapper in Paris, a privately funded, nonprofit museum devoted to traditional and contemporary art from Africa announce closing in June due to rising costs and a drop in attendance. The museum was established in 1986 by the Amsterdam-based Olfert Dapper Foundation, named for the Dutch humanist who wrote the ethnographic book Description of Africa (1668), to bring African art to a wider audience. It has since expanded and also exhibits Caribbean, Latin American, Indian, and African American work. The Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, will stage an exhibition of works from the Dapper collection this October.
5.
The Roy Lichtenstein Award
New York’s Foundation for Contemporary Arts, a grant-giving organisation established by John Cage and Jasper Johns in 1963 as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, has announced that it will be handing out a yearly Roy Lichtenstein Award, which will be culled from a $1 million endowment gift from the artist’s foundation. The unrestricted annual award is $40,000, and the recipient will be chosen by members of the FCA’s board, made up of Johns, Glenn Ligon, Robert Gober, and Cecily Brown, among others.
6.
A new Triennial for artists in Manhattan
Thee Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University in New York launched “Uptown,” a contemporary art triennial that showcase in June works by artists who are known for living or working in upper Manhattan. Organised by Deborah Cullen, the director and chief curator of the Wallach, “Uptown” opens June 2 and will be held through August 20. Its inaugural edition will feature sixty-six artists, including Sanford Biggers, Jaime Davidovich, Julie Mehretu, and Nari Ward.
7.
The first Bangkok Biennale
The first-ever Bangkok Biennale announced to be held in the capital of Thailand from November 2018 to February 2019 reports. The Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation made the announcement at the opening of the Fifty-Seventh Venice Biennale. The exhibition will feature contemporary art from Asia, Europe, and the Pacific region around the theme “Beyond Bliss.” Chief executive and artistic director Poshyananda said, “We live in the age of chaos, disruption . . . and violence. So the search for your bliss is up to the individual artist, who would interpret, as well as the visitors who come to Bangkok. We all want to find our own bliss.”
8.
French new minister of culture
French president Emmanuel Macron selected as minister of culture publisher Françoise Nyssen. As CEO of French publishing house Éditions Actes Sud, Nyssen has never been involved with party politics before. She first entered the publishing world in 1980, when she became a partner and CEO of the Cooperative d’Editions du Paradou. In 1987, she partnered with her father, Hubert Nyssen, to launch the Arles-based Actes Sud. In 1991, she was awarded the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award. Nyssen was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters since 2008 and an Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honour since 2013.
9.
A Renzo Piano designed art space
Architect Renzo Piano has designed a new exhibition space for contemporary art, just opened, on the five-hundred-acre property of Château La Coste, a vineyard in the South of France. The nearly 300-square-meters structure has been built almost six feet into the ground yet still receives a great deal of natural light. The main exhibition space is flanked by two cellars that store the vineyard’s renowned wines. Currently on view in the space is photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto’s exhibition “The Sea and Mirror,” which runs until September.
10.
Opening of the 57th Biennale
The Fifty-Seventh Venice Biennale, titled “Viva Arte Viva” and curated by Christine Macel, opened to the public and will run until November. Described by Macel as an exhibition “designed with artists, by artists, and for artists,” the biennial offers a range of viewpoints on the participants’ creative processes, with their studio practices taking center stage. It features 120 artists, 103 who are participating for the first time, and is divided into nine chapters or “Trans-Pavilions,” including the “Pavilion of Artists and Books,” in which viewers can immerse themselves in the artists’ workshop and learn the reasons why they make art, and the “Pavilion of Earth,” where artists address issues such as the exploitation of the planet’s resources and make observations about the natural environment.
Silvia Meloni
Featured Image: Renzo Piano, Pavilion of Photography in Château La Coste. Copyright Stéphane Aboudaram WE ARE CONTENTS.
CuratingtheContemporary (CtC) 