Dercon’s appointment as the new director of the theatre, announced last April, was met with unpopularity from the public and people working within the Volksbühne alike. In June, 172 staff and actors signed an open letter to Monika Grütters, Berlin’s senate and federal culture minister, rubbishing Dercon’s plans for the theatre. Dercon’s proposal, which is to stage a project involving refugees on the grounds of the former Tempelhof airport, will be reconsidered by the Berlin committee at a later date when more detailed information is provided. More via artnet News.
The sculptor, video and performance artist Emma Hart, who was announced as the winner of the 6th Max Mara Art Prize for Women last February, will complete the final stage of her experience in Italy at the Museo Carlo Zauli in Faenza. The museum is known for supporting artistic experimentation by young and mid-career artists, and for promoting the use of ceramics in contemporary art — which have formed a large part of Hart’s artistic output whilst in Italy. During the Settimana del Contemporaneo in Faenza, Hart will introduce herself to the town and explain the purpose of her residency there, as well as talking about the highlights from her previous stays in Milan, Rome and Todi and her interactions with Italian culture in these cities. More info via Museo Carlo Zauli.
Sotheby’s latest contemporary art sale, held last Friday at the auction house’s New Bond Street salesroom in London, racked up an impressive net total of £47.9 million, comfortably exceeding the pre-sale high estimate of £31.2 million. The sell through rate was 91.2% by lot. The plummeting value of sterling generated a rush on works sold in pounds, allowing deals to be had by non-British collectors. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Hannibal (1982) was the top lot, selling to a phone bidder for £10.6 million — more than double the high estimate — and an untitled 1997 work by Michael Krebber represented the sole artists’ record of the night, selling for £191,000. More info on Art News.
In the latest of a series of altercations between Istanbul’s more conservative residents and the city’s expanding art scene, angry neighbours turned up en masse at a gallery opening in the Tophane district, enraged by the presence of alcohol and by men and women mingling in the same crowd. The neighbours threatened attendees with physical violence, at which point the gallery owners called the police, who advised them to close the opening. The exhibition being shown was titled “Kuytu”, and showcased the work of 21 women artists. More details on hyperallergic.
