Briefing
The UK votes to leave the EU
The UK votes to leave the EU
- The UK has voted in a referendum to leave the European Union by 52% to 48%. Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said the fund is ‘deeply concerned at the impact leaving the EU will have on culture in the UK, and particularly on its museums and galleries.’ A survey of members of the Creative Industries Federation had shown that 96% backed remaining in the EU, together with a number of UK-based artists, museum directors, writers and curators surveyed by frieze.com. German collector Heiner Pietzsch said, in light of ‘Brexit’, he will loan works to Scottish institutions instead of those in England. Meanwhile, an online petition to run a second referendum has already garnered over 2.5 million signatures.
- A CAN$103 million extension sees the the Musée nationale des beaux-arts de Québec double its gallery space. With a footprint of 15,000sq. m spread over five storeys, the OMA-designed Pierre Lassonde pavilion includes an auditorium, a café and an eco-friendly rooftop garden.
- Frieze London and the Contemporary Art Society have established an acquisition fund to support regional UK museums. From a pool of 70 organizations, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art won this year’s GBP£50,000 fund to acquire work at this year’s Frieze London that addresses the current migration crisis.
- The Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam had to evacuate artworks on view in its basement due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall.
- South London Gallery needs to raise GBP£1 million to reach its GBP£4 million target to purchase a nearby fire station. SLG wants to covert the Grade II-listed building, down the road from the gallery, into a satellite space for shows and events.
- Organizers were forced to make repairs last night to Christo’s latest work, The Floating Piers, on Lake Iseo in northern Italy. More than 350,000 people have visited the installation, a fabric covered walkway connecting the mainland and islands, since it opened last Saturday. On Wednesday 97,000 visitors were counted; organizers had planned for 40,000 to 45,000 visitors per day.
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