Monday, December 23, 2019
‘Vessel’ to Add Elevator in Deal with U.S. Attorney
The operators of architect Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel, a honeycomb-like building in New York’s Hudson Yards neighborhood that is filled with stairs, have agreed to add an additional elevator in a deal with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In a release on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Vessel was “inaccessible to individuals with disabilities” and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An elevator currently only allows visitors to get to a small piece of the structure, with just 3 of its 80 viewing platforms accessible by means other than stairs, and with stops only on the structure’s fifth and seventh levels. To remedy this Related, a company that oversees Vessel, will add a “lift mechanism” that will offer all visitors 360-degree views from the top of the structure on its eighth level, which previously could only be accessed by stairs. The vigorously Instagrammed piece of architecture had been the subject of protests from disability groups since it opened earlier this year.
Cleveland Museum of Art Names Curator of African Arts
The Cleveland Museum of Art has named Kristen Windmuller-Luna as its new curator of African arts. She succeeds Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, who left in March to join the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a curator in its department of painting and sculpture. Windmuller-Luna has previously held curatorial at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York, and the Brooklyn Museum, where she curated exhibitions including “One: Egúngún” in 2019 and the upcoming “Global Conversations.”
New Orleans Museum of Art Taps Deputy Director
Doug Harrell has been named deputy director for finance and administration at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Harrell succeeds Gail Asprodites, who has retired after 13 years. Prior to his appointment at NOMA, Harrell was university controller and vice president of finance at Tulane University for 18 years. Before joining Tulane, he was the senior vice president of finance for the Audubon Institute in New Orleans.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Almine Rech Now Represents Ewa Juszkiewicz
Painter Ewa Juszkiewicz has joined Almine Rech gallery, which will represent her in Europe, the U.K., and China. The Warsaw-based artist’s works, which often feature portraits of women whose faces are obscured by complex arrangements of plants, fabric, hair, and other materials, have figured in exhibitions at Gagosian in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the National Museum of China, and elsewhere.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Lena Stringari Moves Up at Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum in New York has named its longtime chief conservator Lena Stringari deputy director and Andrew W. Mellon chief conservator, a newly endowed position that is underwritten by a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Stringari joined the Guggenheim in 1992, and has since organized several exhibitions, including “Jackson Pollock: Exploring Alchemy” in 2017 and “Imageless: The Scientific and Experimental Treatment of an Ad Reinhardt Black Painting” in 2008. In this new role, Stringari will continue to oversee the collection, while also leading the strategic planning and the direction of the Guggenheim’s conservation-focused programs. The grant also endows the creation of another new position, director of conservation engagement.
Pioneer Works Taps Eric Shiner as Executive Director
Pioneer Works, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts space in Brooklyn, New York, has named Eric Shiner as the institution’s first executive director, Artnet News reports. Shiner, who starts in his new role on January 6, joins the venue after a year-long stint at White Cube gallery, where he was artistic director of the gallery’s New York location. Shiner previously served as head of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Following his departure in 2016, he was a senior vice president of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, where he worked in private sales. In his new role, Shiner will work with the center’s artistic director and vice president to execute the organization’s long-term vision and upcoming capital and endowment campaign.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Half Gallery Will Relocate to New York’s East Village
The New York–based Half Gallery, which has worked with artists including Rene Ricard, Louise Bonnet, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn, will move from the Upper East Side to the East Village next year. Having closed its uptown location in June, the enterprise, which first opened in 2008 on the Lower East Side, will inaugurate its new space in February. It will now be situated in a 2,500-square-foot storefront space at 235 East 4th Street. In an interview with ARTnews, dealer Bill Powers, who founded Half Gallery, said that many of the artists the gallery has worked with “have a real connection to [the East Village] and that art scene,” adding that the move is “a little bit of a homecoming.”
With the Swiss Institute, the Brant Foundation, and other art institutions opening in the East Village recently, the neighborhood remains a hotspot for art, Powers said, adding, “We used to get a bigger crowd for openings when we were downtown because I think the gravity of the art world, spiritually, is downtown or in the outer boroughs.”
For its inaugural exhibition in the new space, Half Gallery will present artist Tanya Merrill‘s first-ever solo exhibition. Speaking of Merrill, whose paintings have been shown in group shows at Gagosian in New York and Almine Rech in London, Powers said that “it’s nice to inaugurate new space with an artist’s inaugural show. I think we have a pretty good track record with launching young talent.” —Claire Selvin
Gordon Parks Foundation Names 2020 Fellows
The Gordon Parks Foundation has named painter Nina Chanel Abney and photographer Tyler Mitchell as 2020 fellows. Through the fellowship program, the artists have each been awarded $20,000 to support new or ongoing projects, and they will have exhibitions at the foundation’s gallery in Pleasantville, New York, over the course of the next two years.
Frieze Names New Editor-in-Chief
Andrew Durbin has been appointed editor-in-chief of Frieze, taking the place of Jennifer Higgie, who stepped down from the role of editorial director in September. He will assume leadership in January, overseeing Frieze’s editorial teams in London, New York, and Berlin. Durbin joined Frieze in 2017, previously serving as senior editor in New York. Before that, Durbin was director of Company Gallery in New York and served as Talks Curator at the Poetry Project. Rebecca Ann Siegel, Frieze‘s publisher, said in a statement, “His vision for the future of Frieze is grounded in cross-disciplinary content and multimedia platforms. I look forward to working with him as we grow in the coming years.”
World Economic Forum Announces 2020 Crystal Award Winners
Artists Theaster Gates and Lynette Wallworth were named 2020 Crystal Award Winners by the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Gates was recognized for his efforts to revitalize Chicago’s South Side through his Rebuild Foundation, and Wallworth for her mixed-reality pieces that amplify marginalized narratives, including stories of indigenous communities. The annual Crystal Awards honor the achievements of cultural leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to improving the state of the world. Similarly honored were choreographer and TV host Jin Xing and actor Deepika Padukone.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Pérez Art Museum Miami Acquires 16 Works by Christo
The Pérez Art Museum Miami has received a gift of 16 works by Christo from its trustee Maria Bechily and Scott Hodes. The acquisition includes collages and drawings by the artist, as well as a work related to the 1981 project Wrapped Reichstag, in which Berlin’s parliamentary building was covered in fabric. PAMM will now have the fourth-largest holding of Christo’s work in the United States.
Frieze Los Angeles Reveals Special Projects for 2020 Edition
For its second edition in Los Angeles, the Frieze art fair will return to Paramount Pictures Studios’ backlot to showcase installations, site-specific works, and videos as part of its special projects. Co-curated by Rita Gonzalez, curator and department head of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Pilar Tompkins Rivas, director of the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College, Frieze Projects will feature works by Lorna Simpson, Tavares Strachan, Mungo Thomson, Mario García Torres, Patrisse Cullors, and more. The full list of participating artists can be found here.
Monday, December 16, 2019
Autry Museum Hires Two Curators
The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles has hired Joe D. Horse Capture, who most recently served as director of Native American initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society in Saint Paul, as vice president of Native collections and curator of Native American history and culture. It has also tapped Tyree A. Boyd-Pates, who was previously history curator and public program manager at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, to be associate curator of Western history.
Clark Art Institute Appoints Senior Leadership
The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has named Caroline Fowler as director of its research and academic program. Fowler joined the Clark in 2018 as associate director of the program and was named interim director later that year.
Independent Art Fair Names Executive Director
The Independent Art Fair in New York has appointed Ashley R. Harris, previously a marketing director at Sotheby’s, as executive director. In her new post, Harris will help develop relationships with galleries and cultural institutions worldwide; she joins the organization in January.
Van Abbemuseum Names New Curator
The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has appointed Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide as curator. She succeeds Annie Fletcher, who left the Van Abbemuseum earlier this year to direct the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Van der Heide previously served as deputy director at the Utrecht-based nonprofit Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, where she oversaw exhibitions and public programming.