COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Ai Weiwei
Last week, Ai Weiwei posted videos on Instagram showing the demolition of one his studio buildings in Beijing. [ARTnews]
Ai told NPR that the destruction of his space by the Chinese government “came as a surprise” and that some works were damaged. The artist pointed to gentrification and neglect of human rights as factors in this situation, saying, in part, “There are profoundly deeper and wider ruins in this deteriorating society where the human condition has never been respected.” [NPR]
The Talent
David Zwirner has hired Elena Soboleva, a social media influencer who has previously worked at Artsy, as its first-ever online sales director. [The Art Newspaper]
Andrea K. Scott explores the implications of Klaus Biesenbach’s appointment to the role of director at MOCA Los Angeles. She writes, “Supporting female artists is one thing. Hiring women to positions of power is something else. The biggest surprise of MOCA’s announcement is that it comes as no surprise at all.” [The New Yorker]
Opinion
“For an exhibition ostensibly interested in dealing with the elephant in the room, the joke is still on brown people,” artists Ajay Kurian and Vijay Masharani write in their op-ed about “The Party” at Anton Kern Gallery in New York. [ARTnews]
Lives
H.F. Lenfest, who made his fortune in the media industry and donated much of it to museums and schools, died yesterday at age 88. He gave to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, among other institutions. [The Washington Post]
Architecture
Proposed skyscrapers could drastically change the skylines of British cities like Bristol, Norwich, and Manchester, and such developments are controversial among locals. [The Guardian]
An ancient Roman structure unearthed in Cologne, Germany in 2017 has been identified as the country’s oldest public library. [Atlas Obscura]
Museums
The National Gallery in London has teamed up with Savoir Beds and interior décor company Andrew Martin for a line of custom beds that feature artworks from the museum’s collection on their headboards and bases. Among the offerings is a bed with Claude Monet’s Water-Lilies, Setting Sun that goes for £29,587. [Hyperallergic]
Music
Here’s an interview with jazz musician and artist Jason Moran, who has collaborated with Adrian Piper, Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson, and others. He said, “I’m finding the way that music can work in the same way that negative space works for a sculpture.” [Believer Magazine]