In Australia, artists protest against the National Gallery of Victoria’s involvement with Wilson Security
Artists including Richard Mosse and Candice Breitz have protested the National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) involvement with the Australian private security company Wilson Security, which provided services at offshore detention facilities on Manus Island and Nauru, and whose employees were accused of assault on asylum seekers and refugees last year. The allegations included incidents of sexual assault on women and children.
As part of their protests, artists have renamed or modified works they are showing at the NGV Triennial, and disrupted the event’s opening on Thursday night. Although the decision to hire Wilson Security was not made by the museum itself, Mosse and other artists call for “the immediate termination of the Wilson contract in solidarity with the Artists’ Committee”. The Guardian has more information.
The K11 Art Foundation expands to nine cities
The foundation, established in 2010 by Adrian Cheng to support emerging artists and curators in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, has announced that it will expand to nine new Chinese cities as of 2023.
The news comes after Adrian Cheng was awarded the distinction of Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
In a statement, Cheng said that “the cultural collaborations formed by the K11 Art Foundation with leading institutions such as Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, and the Claude Monet Foundation have allowed French audiences to deepen their understanding of contemporary Chinese art and to expand international opportunities for outstanding Chinese contemporary artists and curators”. More via Artforum.
Adrian Cheng.
Louis-Cyprien Rials wins the 2017 Prix Sam
French artist Louis-Cyprien Rials was awarded the 2017 Prix Sam for his Wakaliwood project, which will see him travel to Uganda in order to work on a video and photographic documentary on the Wakaliwood film company, known for its extremely low budget and extremely violent productions.
Chosen by a jury consisting of Jean de Loisy, Jean-Hubert Martin, and Alfred Pacquement, the artist will receive a $20,000 cash prize, and will benefit from a solo show at the Palais de Tokyo in February 2019. Rials succeeds previous laureates Mel O'Callaghan, Angelika Markul, Asim Waqif and Zineb Sedira. Read more on Sam Art Projects.
Louis-Cyprien Rials, photo courtesy the artist.
