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The Headlines
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FAIR’S FAIR. The Indonesian art scene has made international headlines this summer—ruangrupa, a prominent artist collective associated with it, recently curated Documenta in Kassel, Germany—but until this past week, there hadn’t been a major art event there since the start of the pandemic. That all changed with the opening of the Art Jakarta fair last Friday. According to Al Jazeera, the mood at the fair was “celebratory,” with officials expecting 25,000 visitors and dealers proudly selling—what else!—NFTs. “The most important thing is to show the market is strong, and there is demand,” Gil Schneider, a consultant to the fair, said. Frieze Seoul, which kicks off its first edition this week, looks to continue that momentum. Ahead of that fair, the Financial Times has a deep dive into Seoul’s market, and Artnet News has a look at some of South Korea’s finest up-and-coming artists.
SITTING PRETTY. This fall, the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, a member of one of Hong Kong’s most powerful families, will head to sale at Sotheby’s, Artnet News reports. Some 400 works are set to be sold in two single-owner auctions—the first in Hong Kong in October, the second in London in December. Among the lots headed to auction is a statue of a seated Avalokiteshvara from the 11th or 12th century; it is the only known work of its kind of the Dali Kingdom, and it could go for as much as $2.3 million. Together, all the lots may bring in $50 million—which, for those keeping count, is a mere twentieth of the amount Paul Allen’s collection could net this fall at Christie’s.
The Digest
When the FBI raided a Basquiat exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art earlier this year, claiming that there were a number of fakes on view, the debacle emblematized what some claim is an alarming trend: the proliferation of forgeries hitting some of the art world’s most elite spaces. [Robb Report]
Did the Chinese Communist Party attempt to destroy an artist’s sculpture of Xi Jinping in the Mojave Desert? Questions continue to swirl in a particularly odd investigation. [NPR]
Bonnie Czegeldi, an Ontario lawyer who specializes in art crime, warned that Canada could be a “soft target” for art theft because it lacks the money laundering laws that many other countries have. [CBC]
For the current Whitney Biennial, Nayland Blake is undertaking a performance series in which they consult visitors about their “art problems,” or the creative issues they are facing in their own practices. [The New Yorker]
Apollo interviewed a group of experts, including Tate Modern director Frances Morris, about the current edition of Documenta. Morris, who helped select ruangrupa as the show’s curators, said that the show “feels like a direction of travel for institutions like us that are meant to have [a social] purpose.” [Apollo]
Having recently unveiled a new definition of the word “museum,” the International Council of Museums named Chang In-kyung, director of the Iron Museum in Eumseong, South Korea, as its new leader. [The Korea Herald]
The Kicker
THAT’S A HOME RUN! The baseball player Mickey Mantle was known for breaking records before rapt crowds at games, but this past weekend, a mint condition card emblazoned with his image set a new benchmark during a Heritage Auctions sale in Dallas. The Associated Press reports that the 1952 baseball card sold for a whopping $12.6 million on Sunday, making it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever auctioned. Many experts believe the auction is a sign of a rapidly expanding market for sports collectibles. “In a nutshell, the world of modern sports cards has been going bonkers,” said Stephen Fishler, founder of ComicConnect. [Associated Press]
Source: artnews.com