Briefing
London’s V&A acquires a pussyhat, Herzog & de Meuron take on ‘the Batcave’, the Whitney Biennial opens this Friday
London’s V&A acquires a pussyhat, Herzog & de Meuron take on ‘the Batcave’, the Whitney Biennial opens this Friday
- Following the impeachment of South Korean president Park Geun-hye, when it emerged that artists were blacklisted from State funding due to their political beliefs, the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has called for new legislation to protect artists from discrimination. The government is seeking to guarantee the autonomy of subsidizing bodies the Arts Council Korea and Korean Film Council by transferring the authority to appoint heads of those organizations from the culture ministry to the arts community. Former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun, was formally charged with abuse of power and coercion last month.
- London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has acquired a ‘pussyhat’ worn at the Women’s March in Washington D.C., the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, on January 21. Knitted by Jayna Zweiman, the Los Angeles–based co-founder of the Pussyhat Project, the pink hat is now on display in the museum’s Rapid Response Collection Gallery, which addresses current events that have been impacted by design, art, architecture, and technology.
- Architects Herzog & de Meuron have been approached to to overhaul Brooklyn’s ‘Batcave,’ a former Brooklyn Rapid Transit power station built in 1904, popular graffiti spot and once home to a squatter community, into a multi-purpose arts centre. Dubbed the Powerhouse Workshop, the venue will become a community studio, for metalworking, woodworking, printmaking and ceramics as well as serving as an exhibition space.
- Patrick Moore has been named the director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Moore first joined the institution in 2011 and has also served as director of development, deputy director and managing director. He recently initiated the museum’s ongoing partnership with New York’s MoMA to digitize Andy Warhol’s entire body of film works.
- Major damage to the Mosul museum has been confirmed following the retaking of the city by Iraqi troops from Islamic State, with most of the museum’s artefacts looted or smashed. It’s famous seven-foot-tall, two-tonne, Lamassu statues – winged Assyrian bulls with human faces – have been reduced to rubble. Officials knew the damage to the museum would be extensive after a video surfaced of IS attacking items at the museum with sledgehammers and pneumatic drills in February 2015.
- The Whitney Biennial 2017 opens this Friday, the 78th edition and the first at the Whitney’s 99 Gansevoort Street space in New York’s Meatpacking district. Curated by Whitney curator Christopher Y. Lew and independent curator Mia Locks, the survey show of contemporary American art features 63 participants including Larry Bell, Samara Golden, Dana Schutz, Frances Stark and Anicka Yi. Dan Fox reviewed it for frieze.com here and the show in pictures is here.
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