NEA is saved — with a surprising $2 million budget boost
US Congress has reached a bipartisan agreement on Trump’s proposed $1 trillion budget plan, seeing the government through until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. In an effort to avoid a second government shutdown in four years, the budget was finalised April 30, and will be officially approved by May 5.
Surprisingly, the agreement includes a budget increase for both the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment of Humanities (NEH), up $2 million, respectively, from the previous year. An NEA spokesperson confirmed “the President is expected to sign it” this week, with NEA and NEH allocated $150 million each.
Patrick Charpenel to direct New York’s El Museo del Barrio
Patrick Charpenel has been appointed the new executive director of El Museo del Barrio, New York.
Responsible for amplifying the museum’s local, national and international stature, the Mexico City-based curator has worked extensively in Mexico, and is internationally recognised for his directorship of the privately owned Museo Jumex, in Mexico City. Charpenel resigned from his post in 2015 amid the controversy over the cancellation of a Hermann Nitsch show. Details via ARTnews
Patrick Charpenel, © Time Out México
10th Berlin Biennale announces curatorial team for 2018
Curator of the 10th edition of the Berlin Biennale, Gabi Ngcobo, has invited Moses Serubiri, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Thiago de Paula, and Yvette Mutumba to collaborate with her as part of a curatorial team for the upcoming exhibition, opening June 9, 2018.
The team — all having worked with Ngcobo before — were selected for their ability to “continuously reflect historical and current shifts and their uneasy entanglements” through their research and creative output. Graphic designer, Maziyar Pahlevan has also been brought onboard to design next year’s visual identity.
The exhibit will run through September, facing head-on “the current widespread state of collective psychosis” by examining “strategies of self-preservation as acts of dismantling dominant structures and building from a non-hierarchical position.”
Left-right | Gabi Ngcobo, Moses Serubiri, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Thiago de Paula, and Yvette Mutumba
Cornelia Parker, the official Election Artist for UK 2017 general election
British artist Cornelia Parker will be the first woman artist to take on the role of Election Artist, announces Chair of the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art, Alison McGovern. Parker will be expected to follow attentively the current election cycle, whilst creating an artwork for the Parliamentary Art Collection based on the experience.
The four previous election artists include Adam Dant in 2015, Simon Roberts in 2010, David Godbold in 2005, and Jonathan Yeo in 2001. Details via The Guardian
Cornelia Parker, Photo courtesy of Suki Dhanda, the Observer
Robert Mapplethorpe Estate and contemporary Chinese artist Zhao Zhao to be newly represented
The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation have announced Gladstone Gallery, New York, will now exclusively represent the artist’s estate. For the past 15 years, the estate was handled by Sean Kelly Gallery, after its departure from the Robert Miller Gallery in 1999, who had principally represented the artist during his lifetime.
Whilst in Los Angeles, Roberts & Tilton gallery have announced they will now represent Chinese artist Zhao Zhao. Zhao’s multifaceted practice takes place in the rapidly changing socio-political landscape of China and explores themes of oppression using photography, performance, video and installations. His second show with the gallery will debut in spring 2018.
