Friday, June 12
Berlin Biennale Reveals New Dates for 2020 Edition
Originally scheduled to open in June, the 11th Berlin Biennale will now take place from September 1 to November 5. Curated by María Berríos, Renata Cervetto, Lisette Lagnado, and Agustín Pérez Rubio, the exhibition will be on view across four venues in the German capital.
Sonsbeek Exhibition Announces Artist List, Postpones to 2021
The 12th edition of the Sonsbeek quadrennial, which takes place every four years in Arnhem, the Netherlands, has announced the more than 30 artists and collectives that will participate in the upcoming exhibition. The list includes Black Archives, Ndidi Dike, Ellen Gallagher, Ibrahim Mahama, Oscar Murillo, Laure Prouvost, and the late Stanley Brouwn. The exhibition, which is helmed by independent curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and carries the theme “Force Times Distance – On Labour and its Sonic Ecologies,” was originally to open on June 5, 2020, but has been postponed until spring 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thursday, June 11
Bortolami Now Represents Renée Green
Artist, filmmaker, and writer Renée Green has joined the New York–based gallery Bortolami, where she will have a solo exhibition in September. Green’s practice spans sculptural installation, film, photography, printmaking, and other mediums, and her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and other international venues.
Wednesday, June 10
Norton Museum of Art Director to Step Down
Elliot Bostwick Davis has resigned from her position as director and CEO of Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. The search for the museum’s next director is currently underway. Davis joined the museum in March 2019, shortly after the unveiling of a major renovation which included expanded galleries, gardens, and classrooms. “It’s been such a privilege to work with the Norton team and get to know Palm Beach County and its incredible community. I believe deeply in the transformational power of art and am proud of all we have achieved,” Davis said in a statement.
Head Curator of Bavarian State Painting Collections to Depart
Corinna Thierolf will step down as head curator and head of the postwar art department at the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich on October 15. Throughout her 25 years of service at the museum, she acquired key works by Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, and Dan Flavin, among many others, for the collection. She also oversaw notable exhibitions such as one of Joseph Beuys’s “Multiples” in 2014 and a survey of John Chamberlain sculptures in 2011.
Mariane Ibrahim Now Represents Ian Mwesiga
Painter Ian Mwesiga has joined the Chicago-based gallery Mariane Ibrahim. Mwesiga experiments with perspective in his vibrant figurative works. The artist also explores his subjects’ psychology and their position within landscapes and architectural environments. “I view images as a retrospective, to inform future mentality,” Mwesiga has said. “I look back, but also into the future, simultaneously.”
Sharjah Art Foundation Postpones Biennial to 2022
The Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates said that it would delay the planned opening of the 15th edition of the Sharjah Biennial until March 2022. The biennial was originally scheduled to take place in March 2021. The foundation also said it would delay its annual March Meeting, which had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, until March 2021. Titled “Thinking Historically in the Present,” the forthcoming Sharjah Biennial is based on a proposal by the late art historian and curator Okwui Enwezor.
El Museo del Barrio Puts Exhibition Catalogue Archive Online
As part of its ongoing “El Museo en tu Casa” program, created as a way to connect with people in quarantine, El Museo del Barrio in Upper Manhattan has made available several exhibition catalogues on its website for free. The works had been previously available for scholars to use for research by appointment. Among the scholarly texts available, the earliest of which dates to 1973, are for exhibitions about the Taino people, the art history of Puerto Rico, and the Nuyorican art collective Taller Boricua, as well as early monographs on important artists like Carmen Herrera, Pepón Osorio, Myrna Báez, and Raphael Montañez Ortiz, who founded El Museo.
Tuesday, June 9
Xavier Hufkens Now Represents Lynda Benglis
The Brussels-based gallery Xavier Hufkens has added American artist Lynda Benglis to its roster. Benglis’s practice spans painting, works on paper, and sculptures that made her a key member of the Post-Minimalism movement during the 1970s; she is best known for her poured-wax pieces. Her works are found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among elsewhere.
Casey Kaplan Now Represents Igshaan Adams
Artist Igshaan Adams has joined the New York–based gallery Casey Kaplan. Adams’s practice spans weaving, performance, and installation, and his works examine race, religion, intergenerational trauma, and histories in his native Cape Town. The artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery is scheduled to take place in May 2021, and his current solo show at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art in Georgia will continue through fall 2020.
Monday, June 8
SFMOMA Announces Second Round of Layoffs
After furloughing around 60 percent of its staff in March, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has announced a second round of staff cuts. Fifty-five employees were laid off from the museum this week, which has cited a projected deficit of $18 million for the fiscal year of 2021 as its reasoning for the layoffs and furloughs. A spokesperson for SFMOMA told Artnet News that the museum is exploring measures to compensate for the deficit, including a limited exhibition schedule and deaccessioning.
Pace Gallery to Open Temporary Space in East Hampton
Pace Gallery will open a temporary exhibition space in East Hampton, New York, for summer 2020. The gallery, located at 68 Park Place, will launch in July and operate through October 12. It will be inaugurated with “After all I’m cosmic dust,” a solo exhibition of new drawings by Yoshitomo Nara. Throughout the summer, the space will host a series of group and solo exhibitions highlighting recent additions to Pace’s artist roster, including Torkwase Dyson’s first show with the gallery. Programming will be accompanied by public artworks installed in nearby areas.
Central London Galleries Plan Reopening
Galleries located in central London will begin reopening their spaces with appointment-only viewing on June 15. Gagosian, Goodman Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, and David Zwirner are among the enterprises that can start welcoming visitors and clients once again.
Tallinn Art Hall Names New Director
Paul Aguraiuja has been elected the new director of Tallinn Art Hall, a contemporary art gallery in Estonia. He will assume the position effective immediately. Previously, Aguraiuja served as the CEO of Theatre NO99 in Estonia.