Bernardo Paz, founder of Brazil’s Inhotim art park, convicted of money laundering

Bernardo Paz, the notable collector and founder of Brazil’s outdoor contemporary art museum Inhotim has been sentenced to nine years in jail. Paz was convicted of money laundering – according to an announcement by prosecutors, Paz received USD$98 million in an account set up abroad for donations to the arts centre. Paz then allegedly siphoned off some of the money to the mining conglomerate he also runs. Inhotim opened in 2006, in the grounds of an estate Paz owns in Brumadinho, in south-east Brazil – the institute’s botanical gardens is home to works by artists including Olafur Eliasson, Matthew Barney and Yayoi Kusama. In 2012, Paz told the New York Times that allegations of money laundering (which have followed him for some time) were a ‘mountain of nonsense and lies’. Paz and his sister (also convicted) intend to appeal their sentences.

Gavin Delahunty has abruptly resigned as senior curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art over allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Delahunty, formerly Head of Exhibitions and Displays at Tate Liverpool, joined the museum over three years ago. In his resignation statement to colleagues, he writes: ‘I am aware of allegations regarding my inappropriate behaviour, and I do not want them to be a distraction to the Museum or to my colleagues’. Delahunty’s departure comes at a time of renewed conversation in the art world surrounding instances of inappropriate workplace behaviour and sexual harassment.

Lévy Gorvy Gallery now represents the estate of Terry Adkins – the gallery is preparing for 'Terry Adkins: The Smooth, The Cut and The Assembled' with the US artist and musician’s friend and collaborator Charles Gaines curating the exhibition, which opens in their New York gallery in January. Adkins passed away in 2014 due to heart failure.

The US military has claimed ownership over artworks produced by Guantanamo Bay detainees, after halting the release of works following a New York show at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, ‘Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo Bay’. The transport of artworks from the prison has been suspended, reversing the previous policy of the Obama administration which permitted lawyers to transport artworks created by detainees after inspection.

Oreet Ashery has won the 10th Film London Jarman Award receiving a GBP£10,000 prize and a commission for Channel 4’s Random Acts strand – all shortlisted artists, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Adham Faramawy, Melanie Manchot, Charlotte Prodger and Marianna Simnett will also receive a Channel 4 commission. 'She has spent her entire career pushing the boundaries of moving image as an art form, and it’s this questing restlessness of spirit that we set out to champion when the Award was first established’, Adrian Wootton OBE, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission commented on Ashery’s win.

Lia Gangitano, founder of New York’s nonprofit Participant Inc, has been named the winner of the 2018 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence by the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, which celebrates ‘individuals who have defined new thinking, bold vision, and dedicated service to the field of exhibition practice.’ The award comes with a USD$25,000 prize.

New York’s Performa 17 closed with the announcement that Kemang Wa Lehulere had won the Malcolm McLaren Award for this year’s edition of the performance art biennial. Wa Lehulere took the prize for his work I Cut My Skin to Liberate the Splinter (2017).