Nancy Spector returns to Guggenheim
Nancy Spector will leave her post at the Brooklyn Museum to become the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s first-ever artistic director and its Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator.
Spector’s departure from the Brooklyn Museum comes abruptly, after just a year as deputy director and chief curator. Her move marks a return to the Guggenheim for Spector, where she had worked for over 29 years before leaving for the Brooklyn Museum. Over the course of her time at the Guggenheim, she curated numerous important exhibitions such as Matthew Barney’s 2003 “Cremaster Cycle” show, a 2012 Maurizio Cattelan survey, and last year’s Fiscli/Weiss retrospective. She also co-curated the first Berlin Biennale with Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1998, and was an adjunct curator for the 1997 Venice Biennale. The New York Times has further details.
Sammy Baloji given French honour
The Congolese painter Sammy Baloji has been awarded the French order of “chevalier des arts et des lettres.”
The honour was bestowed by French Minister for Culture Audrey Azoulay at the Picha gallery in Lubumbashi. Serge Konde, the Culture Minister for Congo’s Haut-Katanga province, congratulated the artist for his achievement, and stated: “Haut-Katanga is once again honoured, demonstrating that it is the foundation of culture in the Republic of the Congo, and even of the African continent.” Baloji’s works were exhibited in Picha gallery during the presentation. More information (in French) via Le Congolais.
Sammy Baloji — Untitled #12, 2006, from the serie Mémoire, courtesy Galerie Imane Farès
Museums against Trump
In an anti-Trump protest, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in Massachusetts will remove works created by, or given to the museum by, immigrants to the U.S. from February 16 to 21.
The initiative, which the museums has named “Art-Less”, will result in around 120 works, or around 20% of the collection on view, being either deinstalled or shrouded for those six days. Artists whose work will no longer be on display during the protest include Willem de Kooning and Hans Hoffman. The museum have said that, in organizing the protest, they wish to support the statement issued by the Association of Art Museum Directors on January 30 which read: “We are deeply concerned that with the current executive order, artistic and scholarly collaborations could now be in jeopardy, just at the moment when cultural exchange and understanding are more important than ever.” The move follows MoMA’s own anti-Trump protest, whereby the institution put works by artists from the seven countries implicated in the Muslim ban on more prominent display. Artsy has the full story.
Christie’s
Christie’s has hired Max Carter, a veteran of the auction house since 2007, as a senior vice president in the Impressionism and Modern art department.
Carter left Christie’s in 2014 to pursue an MBA at Columbia, and then went to work for Mumbai–based media conglomerate The Times of India. He will start in his new position this June. More via ARTnews.
