Friday, February 7
Pérez Art Museum Miami Receives $100,000 Gift
American Airlines has given the Pérez Art Museum Miami $100,000 on behalf of John S. & James L. Knight Foundation chairman and CEO Alberto Ibargüen, who recently stepped down from the airline’s board. To recognize Ibargüen’s 11 years on the board, the company donated the funds to an organization of his choice. Ibargüen’s wife, Susana, has been a trustee of the Pérez Art Museum Miami for over 20 years.
Frieze New York Will Mount Design Exhibition for Upcoming Edition
At the 2020 edition of Frieze New York, which is slated to run from May 6 to 10 on Randall’s Island, will feature a special presentation of 20th-century and contemporary design and art objects as part of a collaboration with the Collective Design art fair. Curated by Libby Sellers, the section will include exhibitors like David Zwirner, Sean Kelly Gallery, Andrew Kreps, Massimo De Carlo, and more, showing works by Joseph Albers, Donald Judd, Sheila Hicks, Dan Flavin, and others.
Thursday, February 6
1-54 Fair Names Participants in 2020 New York Edition
The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has revealed the 26 international exhibitors for its sixth edition in New York, set to take place at Caldwell Factory on West 26th Street from May 8 to 10. Returning participants include Jack Bell Gallery (of London), Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris), Danziger Gallery (New York), and Afronova Gallery (Johannesburg). Fridman Gallery (New York), Galerie Attis (Dakar, Senegal), and Galerie Ernst Hilger (Vienna) are among the fair’s first-time exhibitors. The exhibition will feature works by Abdel Hady El Wechahi, AlShaikh Idress, Derrick Adams, Matana Roberts, Safaa Erruas, and others. The 2020 edition will also inaugurate the new Ritzau Art Prize, a residency award for emerging and mid-career artists showing work in the fair. The inaugural winner of the prize, which was created by 1-54 in collaboration with New York’s International Studio & Curatorial Program and supported by Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, will be named at the fair’s preview day on May 7. The full list of participants can be found here.
Museum Dhondt Dhaenens Names Director
Antony Hudek has been appointed the new director of Dhondt Dhaenens, a museum and contemporary arts center located in Deurle, Belgium. Prior to joining the museum, Hudek served as the director of Objectif Exhibitions, an art space in Antwerp. He has also held curatorial positions in institutions such as Tate Liverpool and M HKA in Antwerp and at the Raven Row Gallery in London.
Wednesday, February 5
New Outdoor Sculpture Park to Open Outside Berlin in May
The Schlossgut Schwante Sculpture Park, which is located about 15.5 miles outside Berlin, will unveil its inaugural exhibition on May 3. Titled “Sculpture & Nature,” the show will include 25 works by Ai Weiwei, Julius von Bismarck, Hans Arp, Maria Loboda, and other international artists.
Henry Ford Museum Acquires Michael Graves Product Design Archive
The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan has added the product design archive of famed architect and designer Michael Graves to its permanent collection. A selection of 21 artifacts from the archive, which comprises over 2,500 pieces from Graves’s work with companies like Target and Disney, is now on view at the institution.
The Armory Show Details Special Projects, Live Talks Program for 2020 Edition
The Armory Show, which is set to take place in New York from March 4 to 8, has revealed that it will present four special projects, including Dawoud Bey’s photo series Harlem U.S.A. (1975–79), a site-specific installation of banners by the national collective For Freedoms, Mel Kendrick‘s black wood Sculpture No. 4 (1991), and a live performance by Jeffrey Gibson in Times Square. Its “Armory Live” program will feature talks with writer and editor Kimberly Drew, artist Howardena Pindell, ICA LA director Anne Ellegood, Baltimore Museum of Art chief curator Asma Naeem, and other figures.
Tuesday, February 4
Lisson Gallery Now Represents Joanna Pousette-Dart
Lisson Gallery, which maintains spaces in London, New York, and Shanghai, has added New York–based painter Joanna Pousette-Dart to its roster. Pousette-Dart is known for her shaped paintings inspired by Islamic, Chinese, Mozarabic, and Mayan art, among other traditions, and her work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and elsewhere. A solo exhibition of the artist’s recent work will open at the gallery’s 10th Avenue location in New York on February 29.
Spring/Break LA Reveals Exhibitor List for 2020 Edition
The Spring/Break Art Show has named the participants in its second Los Angeles fair, which will take place at Skylight Row DTLA from February 14 to 16. The show, which takes up the theme “In Excess,” will feature presentations by BA Contemporary Art, Chandran Gallery, Cortney Stell, Desert Center, Gas Gallery, IV Gallery, Jason Ramos, Khang Nguyen, New Arts Foundation, Outback Arthouse, Secret Project Robot, and Transfer LA, among other curators and enterprises. The full list can be found here.
One of the most closely watched controversies of 2019 was the closure of a section of Japan’s Aichi Triennale that dealt with instances of censorship in the country, with a majority of the participating artists circulating an open letter against the alleged censorship of the show, and some pulling their works from the exhibition in solidarity. One of the main points of contention was the inclusion of a sculptural work by Korean artist-duo Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung that referenced the history of ianfu, or comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. (The issue is still contentious in Japan.) Now CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art) has issued a statement praising the artists and curators for their work to restore the closed part of the exhibition and to protect “the autonomy of the Triennale from political pressure,” according to the statement. “Their efforts to secure this reopening, even for a short period of six days before the scheduled closing date, reflect the symbolic importance of the exhibition reopening as a statement of opposition to political pressure.” CIMAM noted that the controversy “actively demonstrates the significance of education programmes and public debate within the contemporary art field.” —Maximilíano Durón
Monday, February 3
He Art Museum Delays Opening Over Concerns of Coronavirus
The forthcoming He Art Museum, which is located in the Shunde district of Foshan, China, and is part of the larger metropolitan area that includes Hong Kong, will delay its opening, which was originally scheduled for March 21. Amid uncertainty over the ongoing coronavirus, which has over 17,000 cases worldwide and 362 deaths, the majority of which have been in China, the museum said that the “health and safety of HEM’s staff, construction workers, artists, future visitors, and international collaborators are of top priority” and that postponing the opening, along with architectural tours of the museum later this month, became necessary to “minimize the risks of transmission.” The museum has not yet announced a new opening date. The He Art Museum was founded with the intention of mounting exhibitions of Chinese art, with an emphasis on the region’s important Lingnan School, alongside shows of international art as a way to “change the local art ecology and provide local artists more opportunities and possibilities,” as its director Shao Shu recently told ARTnews. —Maximilíano Durón
Veteran Artists Decry MoMA’s ‘Toxic Philanthropy’ in Open Letter
In an open letter, 45 artists who formerly served in the American military called out the Museum of Modern Art in New York for its board members’ alleged involvement in “war and prison profiteering.” The letter, which was first reported by Hyperallergic, accuses the museum of “toxic philanthropy,” and urges the museum to cut ties with trustees whose business dealings potentially tie them to private prisons and American intervention abroad. The letter was written on the occasion of “Theater of Operations The Gulf Wars 1991–2011,” an exhibition at MoMA PS1, its sister institution in Queens, that focuses on wars in Iraq, which has previously been the subject of protest. “If MoMA truly celebrates ‘creativity, openness, tolerance and generosity,’ as stated in its mission, MoMA will recognize the hypocrisy in displaying the work of dispossessed peoples—Iraqis in this case—while continuing to profit, if indirectly, from the bloodshed and misery of those very people,” the letter reads.
Object & Thing Details Presentation at Independent Art Fair
Object & Thing, which had its inaugural edition in Brooklyn in 2019, has named the 17 Independent Art Fair exhibitors and nine international design programs who will show works at its special presentation at the New York event in March. The show will include contributions from Air de Paris, Chapter NY, Karma, Night Gallery, New Museum, and other institutions. Dorothy Iannone, Dike Blair, and Martin Puryear are among the artists whose pieces will be on view. The exhibition is organized by Abby Bangser, founder of Object & Thing, and Rafael de Cárdenas, artistic director of Object & Thing, which will return to New York in May.