Briefing

Arte Útil proponent and current director of the Middlesbrough Institute for Modern Art (mima) Alistair Hudson has been appointed as the new director for Manchester Art Gallery and the University of Manchester’s Whitworth. Hudson will take up the position at the beginning of 2018; he succeeds Maria Balshaw, who was appointed director of Tate earlier in the year. In a statement, Hudson said he looks forward to ‘working across the region in projects that have real impact in people’s lives’. Hudson has been a strong advocate for Tania Bruguera’s Arte Útil movement which encourages art as a tool for social benefit – his work at mima, as he told frieze earlier this year, has been about ‘reversing the polarities of the institution’, in order to create a ‘useful museum’. Prior to his work at mima, which he joined in 2014, Hudson worked at Grizedale Arts.

Alyson Baker is stepping down from the post of executive director at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, US, at the end of the year. In a statement, she said: ‘I am proud to have contribtued to the Aldrich’s remarkable 53-year legacy of supporting artists at critical moments in their careers’. Under Baker, who has been in the post for six years, the Aldrich was accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and celebrated its 50th anniversary. Tracy Moore, deputy director, and Richard Klein, exhibitions director, will act as interim co-directors at the beginning of next year.

Tate St Ives, in Cornwall, UK, is reopening this weekend after an extensive GB£20-million expansion project: its new 500 square metre gallery, excavated into a cliff, has been designed by Jamie Fobert Architects, and the inaugural exhibition is by British sculptor Rebecca Warren, titled ‘All That Heaven Allows’, which shows a collection of both new and old work.

Jessica Kreps has been named partner at Lehmann Maupin – she has been a director at the gallery since 2014, which she joined in 2009. Kreps also sits on the Artists' Council of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Cofounder Rachel Lehmann said of Kreps in a statement: ‘I trust her with what is most dear to me, which are our artists’.

Kader Attia has won the Joan Miró Prize – the sixth edition of the biennial award. The prize comes with EUR€70,000 from the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation which funds a monographic exhibition of his work at Fundació Joan Miró in 2018.

The US is withdrawing from UNESCO – the United Nations cultural organization. The Trump administration cited the group's ‘anti-Israel bias’ as one reason for departure, which will come into effect at the end of next year. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s president and CEO Daniel H. Weiss lamented the decision, describing UNESCO as ‘an important leader and steadfast partner’ in preserving cultural heritage.

Collector Gary Nader has announced plans to sell off US$100 million of his collection, which includes works by Damien Hirst and Pablo Picasso, in order to fund a new museum devoted to Latin American art. Nader originally announced the project in 2014 but it was stalled by location issues. Nader currently runs a space in Miami as well as a gallery in New York. ‘It’s extremely painful because some of these works have been in my collection for more than 20 years, but I have my priorities’, Nader told the Miami New Times.

New York non-profit White Columns is relocating to a new space on 91 Horatio Street, near the Whitney Museum of American Art, next year. Architect Stan Allen is signed up to work on the new location.