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The Headlines
PRESERVING LEGACIES. When he died 10 years ago, Afro-Brazilian artist and activist Abdias Nascimento left behind the Museu de Arte Negra (Black Art Museum). Now, the museum will take up a two-year residency at another important Brazilian institution, Inhotim. The first exhibition in the series looks at Nascimento’s friendship with Tunga . It’s set to be followed by presentations of the museum’s collection, and then by one of Nascimento’s own work. During this two-year period, the Museu de Arte Negra hopes to secure a permanent home. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Visual AIDS has released a new monograph of the wide-ranging work of artist Darrel Ellis, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1992 and who dedicated his “life’s work to explore the world in which his father had lived,” Chris Wiley writes in the New Yorker.
Related Articles
ON VIEW. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., is currently host to “Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory,” a show of 40 large-scale drawings that demonstrate how “oppression can be eradicated only by dismantling the entire system, not merely by changing who is in power,” writes Vanessa H. Larson in the Washington Post. At LAXART in Los Angeles, “All the Lonely People” brings together work by 10 artists that “explore[s] seclusion within the context of the current pandemic,” according to the Los Angeles Times. And the Jewish Museum in New York has mounted an exhibition based Edmund de Waal’s best-selling book The Hare with the Amber Eyes. Plus, critic Karen Wilkin writes up the best art exhibitions of 2021 for the Wall Street Journal.
The Digest
The Morgan Art Foundation, which holds the copyright for much of Robert Indiana’s art, has issued a new filing in an already pending lawsuit against New York–based publisher Michael McKenzie, accusing him of forging the artist’s work. [Artnet News]
Over the weekend, the cleaning staff at the Guggenheim Bilbao staged a protest-performance with artist Lorenzo Bussi to call for better wages. The workers currently make €5 (about $5.65) an hour. Standing in front of the museum for an hour and 15 minutes, they asked, “Is everyone’s work equally important?” [Hyperallergic]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has begun its $70 million renovation of its African, ancient American and Oceanic art galleries, overseen by architect Kulapat Yantrasast. [The Art Newspaper]
Maurizio Cattelan’s exhibition at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing has attracted 46,000 visitors since it opened less than a month ago, and his banana-based work Comedian continues to be memed on Chinese social media. “The viral phenomenon is not comprehensible to me,” the artist said in an email. [Artnet News]
UNESCO has added Arabic calligraphy to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, after a petition from 16 Muslim-majority countries. [France 24/AFP]
More than 25 films were added to Library of Congress’s National Film Registry this year, with John Waters’s Pink Flamingos joining the likes of Selena, Return of the Jedi, WALL-E, and The Flying Ace. [Library of Congress]
As part of a new travel program, launched in partnership with Academic Travel Abroad, ARTnews will host an exclusive experience to give insights into the impressive Joseon dynasty architecture and interiors, sublime meals, and the vibrant art scene of Seoul, South Korea, next October. [ARTnews]
The Kicker
HANG TEN. The New York Times Magazine’s latest tip column is dedicated to teaching readers “How to Hang a Gallery Wall.” Featuring an interview with art adviser Anne-Laure Lemaitre , the advice isn’t necessarily revolutionary—group dissimilar things together, or better yet things that are alike, like black-and-white images—but it comes with an extra suggestion: “cut out pieces of brown paper that match the sizes of the things you want to hang and tape them to the wall.” All in all, Lemaitre says that the process should feel like “composing a painting and should be seen as one artwork made of multiple works.”
Correction, 12/16/21, 1:03 p.m.: A previous version of this article misstated that a new lawsuit had been filed in the Robert Indiana case. There was a new filing in an already pending lawsuit.