Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.
The Whitney Biennial has been postponed until 2022 due to delays created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Ahead of the Guggenheim Museum‘s reopening, artist-activist groups Artists for Workers and the Illuminator projected messages on the museum in solidarity with the museum’s unionized workers and workers of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. The following day, Guggenheim members were welcomed to the museum’s opening with a union protest.
In a letter penned by Chinatown Art Brigade, artist-activists compel the Museum of Chinese in America to reject a “community give-back” proposed by New York City as part of its jail expansion plan.
Ai Weiwei staged a silent protest in London to support Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks. Assange is facing 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse.
The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, a Latinx art and culture organization in New York City’s Lower East Side, dissolved its membership program after a contentious vote.
The Laundromat Project is relocating to Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for its 15th anniversary.
An Orwell-inspired billboard project, “Ministry of Truth: 1984/2020,” will present political works by 20 artists, including Deborah Kass and Mel Chin, on 20 billboards around New York City.
Check out artist Mira Schor‘s critical annotations of the New York Times.
A researcher discovered early paintings by Edward Hopper are in fact copied from a how-to arts magazine.
In order to protect 150 jobs, London’s Royal Academy of Arts is considering selling Michelangelo‘s “Taddei Tondo.”
The Dutch institution formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art has announced its new name: Kunstinstituut Melly. The change follows years of debate over the museum’s colonial namesake.
Awards & Accolades
David Adjaye was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) gold medal. | Guardian
The inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award will be awarded to ARRAY, Ava DuVernay‘s media company and arts collective. | McDowell News
Vincent Namatjira was named the recipient of the Archibald Prize. | BBC
As part of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s $5 million emergency relief program, seven small and mid-sized museums will receive $50,000 emergency relief grants, and six additional organizations will get awards between $60,000 and $500,000 for equity and access initiatives.
Transitions
Peter Eleey will step down as Chief Curator at MoMA PS1. | ARTnews
James P. Folsom will retire as director of the botanical gardens at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Tim Griffin will step down as director and chief curator of the Kitchen.
Ebony L. Haynes was appointed director of a soon-to-open outpost of David Zwirner Gallery with an all-Black staff. | New York Times
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Cyrée Jarelle Johnson was named the Brooklyn Public Library’s inaugural Poet-in-Residence.
Tyler Mitchell is now represented by Jack Shainman gallery. | Artsy
Kevin Young was named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. | NPR
Obituaries
Robert Bechtle (1932–2020), photorealist painter | Datebook
Christiane Eda-Pierre (1932–2020), soprano opera star | New York Times
Verne Edquist (1931–2020), famed piano tuner| New York Times
Michael Lonsdal (1931–2020), actor known for his role as a Bond villain | Guardian
Sam McBratney (1943–2020), children’s author | Publisher’s Weekly
Helen Reddy (1941–2020), feminist musician | Washington Post
Source: Hyperallergic.com