Friday, December 18
Almine Rech Announces Second Paris Location
Almine Rech has announced the opening of a second gallery in Paris at 18 Avenue Matignon in the city’s Eighth Arrondissement, which is home to many of the city’s blue-chip galleries. The space will open in January 2021 with a solo exhibition of new works by Kenny Scharf. The gallery, whose main space in Paris is located in the Marais, also maintains locations in Brussels, London, Shanghai, and New York.
Bienal de Arte Paiz Details 2021 Edition
The 22nd edition of Guatemala’s Bienal de Arte Paiz will take place in locations across Guatemala City and Antigua from May 6 to June 6, 2021. Curated by Alexia Tala and Gabriel Rodríguez, the exhibition will include the work of 40 artists, as well as special projects by Aníbal López and Paz Errázuriz. Titled “Lost. In Between. Together,” the biennial will feature works by Francisca Aninat, Benvenuto Chavajay, ForensicArchitecture &ForensicOceanography, Jessica Kairé, Alejandro Paz, Heba Y. Amin, and others.
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Thursday, December 17
The 1-54 Fair Announces Paris Edition
The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair has announced “1-54 Paris at Christie’s,” a special edition of the fair that will take place in the French capital next year. Nineteen international galleries will present work by contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora at Christie’s space at Avenue Matignon and online from January 20–23. The event will also feature an entirely virtual edition of 1-54 Forum, the fair’s multidisciplinary program of talks, screenings, performances, workshops, and readings. The program, curated by LE 18, an art space in Marrakech, will be open in tandem with the in-person fair and run through February.
New Beijing Art Center Soft Launches Online
Since it’s something less than an ideal time to inaugurate an art space right now, the new Beijing-based Macalline Art Center is opting instead for a distinctly of-the-moment soft opening: the unveiling of online projects. The venue’s artistic director, Yuan Fuca, has commissioned video pieces from Chinese artists like Tao Hui, Tianzhuo Chen, and Liu Qinmin that began screening on its website and social media in a program called “Bare Screen” on Thursday. Separately, a new video by Chen Zhou is viewable on the site that—to quote a news release—“illustrates Macalline Art Center’s commitment to promoting innovative and experimental art practices.” The organization, which was started by the artist and collector Che Xuanqiao, also publishes Heichi, a digital Chinese-English magazine that dropped in May. Those looking for the physical Macalline experience, take note: its home in the Chinese capital city is scheduled to swing open its doors next summer, but no location has yet been announced.
Tiwani Contemporary Now Represents Andrew Pierre Hart
Andrew Pierre Hart, who examines representations of sound in his paintings, has joined Tiwani Contemporary in London, where his work figured in a recent group exhibition. Hart has exhibited work in Theaster Gates’s “Black Image Corporation” in London, the Royal College of Art Graduate Show in London, and elsewhere.
GEM Museum of Contemporary Art Will Change Name
In 2021, the GEM Museum of Contemporary Art in the Hague will change its name to KM21, with KM referring to the Kunstmuseum Den Haag and 21 to art of the 21st-century. The alteration is intended to more clearly indicate the museum’s partnership with the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.
Wednesday, December 16
Carnegie Museums Workers Vote to Unionize
Workers at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh—which include the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum—have voted to unionize. According to a release from the institution, 79 percent of those who cast ballots voted “yes” to unionization, representing 53 percent of the union-eligible workforce. In a statement, Chloe Deardorff, program presenter at the Carnegie Science Center, said, “We look forward to sitting down and bargaining a first contract that helps us to reach those goals.”
MASS MoCA Awarded $500,000 Grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams has received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will support the expansion of performance and visual arts residencies at the museum. MASS MoCA aims to quadruple its Artist-in-Residency Program in the coming year, and the Mellon Foundation grant will contribute in part to that effort, with other funding coming from individual and institutional donors. Joseph Thompson, who stepped down earlier this year from his post as founding director of MASS MoCA, said in a statement, “As the pandemic has shuttered studios and rehearsal facilities and cancelled most live performances, artists are in particular need of safe spaces and support systems to help them continue to develop and refine their work.”
MFA Boston Receives $2.5 Million Grant to Establish Islamic Art Curatorial Position
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has received a grant of $2.5 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative to endow a curatorial position for Islamic art. The inaugural Assistant Curator of Islamic Art will draw from the museum’s collection to develop new exhibitions and public programming. In a statement, the museum’s director Matthew Teitelbaum said, “It is especially meaningful in this moment, as a museum with a global collection, to be able to demonstrate our commitment to the diversity of our collection and the religions and cultures it represents.”
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has received a grant of $2.5 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative to endow a curatorial position for Islamic art. The inaugural Assistant Curator of Islamic Art will draw from the museum’s collection to develop new exhibitions and public programming. In a statement, the museum’s director Matthew Teitelbaum said, “It is especially meaningful in this moment, as a museum with a global collection, to be able to demonstrate our commitment to the diversity of our collection and the religions and cultures it represents.”
FIAC to Launch Online Viewing Rooms in 2021
The Paris-based art fair FIAC announced that it will create online viewing rooms to host works on offer from some 200 galleries. The digital iteration of its fair will run March 2–7, 2021, ahead of its in-person one, scheduled for October 21–24, 2021, at the Grand Palais Éphémère on the Champ-de-Mars.
Foundwork Artist Prize Names 2020 Recipient
Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist Tracey Snelling has been awarded the second annual Foundwork Artist Prize, which comes with an unrestricted $10,000 grant and studio visits with each member of the prize’s jury. This is the first year that Foundwork, a digital platform based in New York, has considered international artists for the award. The jury for the 2020 Foundwork Artist Prize included Rachel Adams, chief curator and director of programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha; gallerist Anat Ebgi; Natasha Ginwala, artistic director for the 13th Gwangju Biennale in 2021 and associate curator at the Gropius Bau in Berlin; performance and video artist Kalup Linzy; Humberto Moro, deputy director and senior curator at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and adjunct curator at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia; and Michael Ruiz, founder and managing director of Future Gallery in Berlin and Mexico City.
Tuesday, December 15
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art Names Alyssa Nitchun Executive Director
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York has appointed Alyssa Nitchun, who most recently served as acting executive director of the nonprofit Creative Time, as its executive director. Nitchun will take up the role on February 15, succeeding the institution’s interim director Laura Raicovich. “I have long championed the role and voice of the artist in society and culture,” Nitchun said in a statement. “I look forward to ensuring Leslie-Lohman is a living, adaptive museum, responsive to the times in which we live and above all to the intersectional evolution of LGBTQI+ communities.”
ProyectosMonclova Now Represents Néstor Jiménez
Néstor Jiménez, whose practice spans painting, video, and installation, has joined ProyectosMonclova in Mexico City, where he will have a solo exhibition in January. Jiménez’s work often explores the construction of political and historical memories and representations of leftist thinking in Mexico City’s past. For many of his pieces, the artist creates paintings atop found materials.
Perrotin Launches New Space Dedicated to Secondary Market in Paris
Perrotin, which maintains gallery locations in New York, Paris, Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, will launch a new venture at 8 Avenue Matignon in Paris, a short distance from the Grand Palais and auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Created in collaboration with Tom-David Bastok and Dylan Lessel, the new location will be dedicated to selling art on secondary market and is slated to open in early 2021. In a statement, Emmanuel Perrotin said the new outpost “ will network with our six galleries and their teams to offer the best service to our collectors at all times. Our artists will also be able to take part in this new adventure on the occasion of exceptional projects.”
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art Names Pamela Meadows as Curator
The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado has appointed Pamela Meadows as curator. She will begin her new role at BMoCA on January 4, where she will oversee the museum’s exhibition program. Meadows previously served as director and curator of the University of Northern Colorado Galleries in Greeley.
Monday, December 14
Wexner Center for the Arts Receives $100,000 to Support Learning & Public Practice Department
The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, has received $100,000 from the Ohio State University Seed Fund for Racial Justice and a matching opportunity through Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme. The funds will go toward the center’s partnerships with schools and teachers as well as new educational initiatives focused on racial equity.
Galeria Nara Roesler Now Represents Maria Klabin
Galeria Nara Roesler, which maintains spaces in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and New York, now represents Brazilian artist Maria Klabin. Her figurative paintings often take place in urban settings and emphasize the physicality of her subjects. Most recently, Klabin executed a series of mural-sized landscapes that each contemplate a fragment of memory. Her work is currently on view at Galeria Nara Roesler’s São Paulo group show “In Waiting: Works produced in Isolation” and it will figure in another group show in January at the gallery’s New York space.
Grimm Now Represents Dirk Braeckman
Amsterdam-based gallery Grimm now represents Belgian photographer Dirk Braeckman in New York in collaboration with Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp. Over three decades, Braeckman has developed a photographic body of work that centers on reframing mundane settings and occurrences as unfamiliar or disquieting narratives. His largely black-and-white portraits have received wide acclaim, and he has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions at institution such as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas, the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. In 2017, Braeckman represented Belgium at the 57th Venice Biennale.