Main sponsors of Australian Pavilion to pull financial support
Two of the main sponsors of the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale have announced they are withdrawing their financial support after changes put in place by the Australia Council for the Arts.
Earlier this week, philanthropist Simon Mordant criticized the selection process for artists featured at the Pavilion and announced he would halt all financial support towards Australia’s participation at the Biennial. Mordant’s withdrawal was followed by that of the Pavilion’s second high-profile sponsor: the Balnaves Foundation, which also announced that it will no longer support Australia in Venice. Hamish Balnaves, general manager of the Foundation, has said that the changes “will destroy a successful public/ private partnership”, lamenting the “lack of consultation with key stakeholders”, which makes private supporters “mere cheque-writers”. More via the Sydney Morning Herald.
Tracey Moffatt — Body Remembers © Australian pavilion
Five artists to receive the 2018 Pernod Ricard Fellowships
The recipients of the 2018 Pernod Ricard Fellowships have been announced as follows: Beto Shwafaty, Nikolay Smirnov, Yto Barrada & Mohamed Larbi Rahhali and Newell Harry.
The artists will take part in a three-month residency in a studio created specifically for the awardees at Paris’ Villa Vassilieff. The atelier was conceived as a “platform for artistic research and for experimentation with alternative models of production”. Former fellows include Andrea Ancira (curator and researcher, Mexico), Ernesto Oroza (artist, USA/ Cuba), Zheng Bo (artist, China), Sojung Jun (artist, South Korea), Ndidi Dike (artist, Nigeria), Koki Tanaka (artist, Japan), Samit Das (artist and art historian, India) and Mercedes Azpilicueta (artist, Argentina). More information via e-flux.
Interior view of the Pernod Ricard studio at Villa Vassilieff. Photo: Aurélien Mole & Villa Vassilieff.
Simone Leigh takes home the Studio Museums’s Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize
Following in the footsteps of artists Derrick Adams, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Trenton Doyle Hancock and Lorna Simpson, Simone Leigh (b. 1967 in Chicago), was awarded the $50,000 prize, open to African-American artists.
Leigh’s work is currently on show at the New Museum as part of the exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon”. Read more on Artnews.
Hammer Projects: Simone Leigh
In Germany, gender equality in the art world is still a chimera
According to a study published by Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance, Germany still has hard work ahead to achieve gender equality within the art world.
Despite the percentage of women working within the cultural industry being greater than in other European countries (48%), only 21% and 16% of women occupy senior positions within media companies and major cultural departments, respectively. Only 20% of art school directors are women, whereas two thirds of students studying arts, humanities and media subjects are female.
The study also sheds light on the reasons for this disparity, namely, the fact that women are expected to provide full-time daycare for their children. According to the research, Germany should take inspiration from Italy’s Brave Fathers initiative, from Sweden’s parental leave policies and from the French Culture Ministry’s monitoring of the gender gap. More via The Art Newspaper. The study is available in its entirety here.
Leo Xu to co-direct David Zwirner’s Hong Kong gallery
David Zwirner has announced that art dealer Leo Xu will co-direct his Hong Kong gallery alongside Jennifer Yum, formerly vice president and head of Day Sales in the post-war and contemporary art department at Christie’s New York. Xu will close his Shanghai space — Leo Xu Projects — by the end of the year.
David Zwirner’s Hong Kong outpost is slated to open on January 27 with a solo show by Belgian painter Michaël Borremans. Read more on The Art Newspaper.
Jennifer Yum, David Zwirner and Leo Xu Photo by Anna Bauer. Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York/London
