Former Met director joins NY’s Acquavella Galleries
Philippe de Montebello, who stepped down in 2008 after 31 years as head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will become a director of East Side Acquavella Galleries, where he will focus on publications and special exhibitions.
Born in Paris in 1936, De Montebello emigrated to the United States in 1950s. In 1963, he began working as a curatorial assistant at the Met in the Department of European Paintings. After serving a four-year term as director of Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, he returned to the Met, where he became director in 1977. De Montebello will also continue to serve as chairman of the Hispanic Society of America and as professor at New York University.
Dana Schutz’s in trouble again…
Following the tremendous backlash the artist has received after participating at the Whitney Biennial with the painting Open Casket — representing the dead body of Emmett Till — her current show at Boston’s ICA might also be cancelled.
A group of local artists, activists, and community members have in fact signed an open letter, asking the institution to pull the show, citing “the issues and implications of this exhibition on the Boston community, specifically on Black people and people of color”. The group has also demanded that the ICA host an exhibition text that addresses “Open Casket” as “in line with a long tradition of white supremacy obscuring and ultimately erasing narratives of the continued genocide of Black and indigenous peoples”, although the painting is not on show at the institution. More via Hyperallergic.
Ei Arakawa’s Münster work restored
Technicians work on Ei Arakawa's work.
Ei Arakawa’s Skulptur Projekte Münster work Harsh Citation, Harsh Pastoral, Harsh Münster, (2017) which was damaged last June when someone stole one of the LED paintings that were part of the installation, has now been restored.
Ei Arakawa’s has created a new Jutta Köther LED painting, which was installed yesterday. In a surprising turn of events, the artist had commented that the theft represented “a really interesting ‘performance’ in a way, revealing how vulnerable art in public space can be, and how public space can be violent”. More via ARTnews.
EXPO Chicago announces artists for In/Situ section
Sanford Biggers, Tom Burr, Alex Chitty, Bethany Collins, Nate Lowman, Lavar Munroe, Manish Nai, Dan Peterman, Lara Schnitger, Hiroshi Senju, Troika (Conny Freyer, Eva Rucki, Sebastien Noel) and Wang Du are the artists chosen to show in the fair’s section dedicated to “monumental artworks”.
Curated by Centre Pompidou’s Florence Derieux, the section will be titled “Chronopolitics” and will focus on “the impact of the measure of time on our contemporary social, political and cultural structures.” More via ARTnews.
LACMA looks to become less “centralized”
In addition to a proposed $650 million expansion designed by Peter Zumthor, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is also planning on building a new branch in South Los Angeles’ in a wetland park 40 minutes from its main campus.
Institution director Michael Govan has explained that LACMA’s new location will be created in a bid to reach more Angelenos. LACMA’s new exhibition space will occupy a vacant 84,000-square-foot bus storage yard, which will be renovated by the institution. Read more on artnet news.
LACMA.
