Artist Mark Leckey to Install M53 Motorway Bridge Replica in Tate Britain
In further news: Berlin’s Jewish Museum director resigns following controversial tweet; Baltimore Museum of Art sells Warhol to diversify collection
In further news: Berlin’s Jewish Museum director resigns following controversial tweet; Baltimore Museum of Art sells Warhol to diversify collection
Turner Prize-winning British artist Mark Leckey will install a life-size replica of a motorway bridge in London’s Tate Britain. The sculpture, a reproduction of a bridge on the M53 on the Wirral, Merseyside, will be the set for an audio play. A statement on the Tate website explained: ‘Focusing on a group of teenagers, the play is inspired by folklore and stories of changelings and ‘fairy raids’ and by the artist’s own pre-adolescent experiences.’ Featuring new and existing work, the exhibition will be ‘an atmospheric, theatrical experience of spectral visions, sound and video,’ the statement continued. The sculpture will be part of ‘O’ Magic Power of Bleakness’, a large-scale exhibition of Leckey’s work taking place at the Tate Britain from 24 September 2019.
The director of the Jewish Museum in Berlin has resigned following pressure by detractors over a controversial tweet sent by the museum, Artnet News reported. Peter Schäfer, who has served as the museum’s director since 2014, had been criticized for being politically outspoken about the Israel-Palestine debate. The tweet, which was sent on 6 June 2019, linked to an article from German newspaper taz arguing that the German parliament should not pass a resolution against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a campaign led by Palestine which promotes the boycott of Israel until the country satisfies what BDS describes as obligations under international law. A statement issued by the Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation said that Schäfer had stepped down ‘to avert further damage from the Jewish Museum Berlin.’
Baltimore Museum of Art has acquired more than 70 artworks by artists including Emma Amos, Charles Gaines, Ana Mendieta and Faith Ringgold. The profits from seven recently deaccessioned works were used to purchase 17 new additions in a bid to diversify the collection. Notable purchases include Mendieta’s film Blood Inside Outside (1975), prints by late Romanian artist Geta Brătescu and Gaines’s Numbers and Trees, Tiergarden Series 3 (2018). The deaccessioned works, which were sold at Sotheby’s in May, include Andy Warhol’s ‘Oxidation Painting’, which sold for USD$3.4 million and an abstract painting by Franz Kline, which sold for $5.2 million. Works by Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Édouard Vuillard and Wilmer Wilson IV are also now part of the museum’s permanent holdings. In a statement, the director of the BMA said: ‘These historic and contemporary works create new opportunities to tell important and relevant narratives’, adding that the acquisition represents their goal to capture the innovations of artists ‘that have previously been under-represented in institutional collections.’
The 2019 Jarman Award 2019 has been announced. Nominees for this year’s prize, which awards works by UK-based artist filmmakers, are Cécile B Evans, Beatrice Gibson, Mikhail Karikis, Hetain Patel, Imran Perretta and Rehana Zaman. The award, which is now in its 10th year and is named after the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, will give a cash prize of GBP£10,000 to the winner. Previous shortlisted artists include Laure Prouvost, Charlotte Prodger and Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission Adrian Wootton said: ‘This year’s Jarman award shortlist is a fantastic showcase of original work that seeks to question, alter and articulate the modern world around us by exploring prevalent topics such as the environment, identity and consumerism.’ The winner will be announced on 25 November 2019 in a ceremony at the Barbican Centre. The shortlisted works will also go on tour to ten venues across the UK including Whitechapel Gallery, London.
