Sydney’s The Art Gallery of NSW receives $244 million for “global museum of the future”
After four years of heated discussions on the proposal, Australia’s state government have finally committed $244 million (about $184 million USD) to the expansion of The Art Gallery of New South Wales — Sydney’s premier art museum. The announcement came today, June 14, just ahead of next week’s state budget proposal.
The investment will see the existing 19th-century site in The Domain linked up to Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden, transforming the space into a “global museum of the future,” doubling the gallery space. The project will begin in 2019, to be completed by 2021, in time for the gallery’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The grant will fund only part of the expansion, regarded by former prime minister Paul Keating as being “all about the idolatry of special events… about money, not art” — another $ 100 million will be needed to secure the design by Pritzker prize-winning architects from Japanese firm SANAA. For more information, see The New York Times
The Art Gallery of New South Wales © SANAA
Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery to represent 80s art-activist collective General Idea
Though the work of art-activist collective General Idea does not hold the same audience as it once did — on the 1980s New York art scene with their iconic Imagevirus (1987), an artwork that reconstituted Robert Indiana’s brightly colored LOVE to read instead as “AIDS” — the group look to stage their first exhibition since 1996 this November, at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery in New York.
The exhibition comes as the gallery acquire official representation of General Idea, triumphed for radically “reinventing the idea of artist activism.” Details via ARTnews
General Idea, Imagevirus (1987)
Daniel H. Weiss appointed president and CEO of The Met
New York’s The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed the institution’s current president and chief operating officer, Daniel H. Weiss, to the new post of president and CEO. After Thomas P. Campbell announced he would resign in February, Weiss took over as interim director. The appointment will see Weiss focus on the financial governing of the Museum, whilst the role of director — in charge of artistic direction and curatorial priorities — is still up for grabs. Details via ARTnews.
Art critic Edit deAk passes away in downtown New York
Cofounder of Art-Rite, an art periodical published from 1973 to 1978, Edit deAk has passed away after suffering from pneumonia at the age of 68, in New York. The “creative conduit” was a doyenne of downton New York during the 70s, who with cofounder and artist-critic Walter Robinson, championed criticism that steered away from “terminological pollution,” and embodied “a whole new tone and attitude… with a sense of humour.”
Edit deAk, 1983. Photo by Michaeljohn | New York City Ballet dancer Ulrik Trojaborg, artist/critic Edit DeAk, and art luminary Andy Warhol discussing Polaroids at The Odeon, 1986
LACMA elect new trustees
Three new members have been elected to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s board of trustees whilst the institute’s new “ambitious building campaign” gets underway — Allison Berg, Troy Carter, and Carter Reum.
Berg is a freelance journalist, modern and contemporary art collector, attorney, and philanthropist, writing for a number of publications, including C Magazine and Hamptons Magazine. Carter is the founder and CEO of Atom Factory and co-founder and managing partner of Cross Cultures Ventures. He is also the global head of creator services at Spotify. Reum is the co-founder of M13, a Los Angeles–based brand development and investment company.
Artists announced for 2017 Yokohama Triennale
The artists and collectives participating in this year’s Yokohama Triennale have been revealed, and will include: Maurizio Cattelan, Olafur Eliasson, Jenny Holzer, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Paola Pivi, Ai Weiwei and Zhao Zhao. The main exhibition, Islands, Constellations and Galapagos,” will “reexamine the state of global connectivity and isolation from various angles.” Scheduled to open August 4, running through November 5, 2017, the triennale will be located at three venues: the Yokohama Museum of Art; the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1, a multipurpose event space; and the Minatomirai bus station.
