Briefing
German gallerist Barbara Weiss passes away; Dorin Rabina appointed curator of Tel Aviv Museum of Art; New York's Murray Guy to close
German gallerist Barbara Weiss passes away; Dorin Rabina appointed curator of Tel Aviv Museum of Art; New York's Murray Guy to close
- German art dealer Barbara Weiss has passed away at the age of 56. Having opened her eponymous Berlin gallery on Potsdamer Straße in 1992 with a presentation of Larry Clark’s series ‘Tulsa’ and ‘Teenage Lust’, Weiss moved her space to Zimmerstraße in 2001, before settling on Kohlfurter Straße in 2011. Amongst the artists represented by Galerie Barbara Weiss are Monika Baer, Harun Farocki, Mary Heilmann, John Miller, Collier Schorr, Niele Toroni, and Amelie von Wulffen. (German)
- New York gallery Murray Guy announced yesterday that it's forthcoming group exhibition, 'January Show', which opens next week, will be its last. Based in Chelsea, the gallery has been in operation for 18 years, and currently represents the likes of Alejandro Cesarco, Leidy Churchman, An-My Lê, Zoe Leonard and Sergei Tcherepnin. In an email circulated by Andrew Russeth at ArtNews, Margaret Murray and Janice Guy wrote: 'As we begin a new year, we look forward to future projects and conversations with the artists of the gallery, as well as with the colleagues, curators, collectors, and writers, whose enthusiasm and camaraderie have sustained and encouraged us over the years.'
- Israeli artist Dorin Rabina has been appointed chief curator of Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Rabina, who previously led the Midrasha College of Art at Beit Berl, acted as chief curator of Midrasha’s Tel Aviv gallery, and in 2013 established Hayarkon, an arts and culture centre in Tel Aviv, will assume the position in the coming months. In a statement on his appointment, Rabina made reference to the current complexities of the Israeli culture sector, adding that ‘the institution of the museum finds itself in an entirely new reality that challenges its character, role, and goals.’
- Richard Deacon has been awarded the 2016 Ernst Franz Vogelmann Prize for Sculpture. Deacon, who was born in Wales but now lives and works between London and New York, joins an esteemed list of past winners that include Thomas Schütte, Franz Erhard Walther, and Roman Signer. In addition to the €30,000 prize, Deacon will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Vogelmann, Heilbronn, later this year. (German)
- The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has received a donation of USD$20m from the Walton Family Foundation. The donation, which is the largest in the institution’s history, will be released across a period of five years, and will contribute to an endowment supporting future exhibitions and education initiatives. Andrew J. Walker, the museum’s executive director, said: ‘This amazing endowment allows us to expand our offerings beyond what our current operating budget provides, and to engage the community on a deeper level. The Amon Carter is truly grateful for this tremendous demonstration of support.’
- Following the series of earthquakes that struck central Italy last year, killing close to 300 people and irreparably damaging a number of historic sites, conservationists are assessing the seismic stability of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, which houses Michelangelo’s David (1501-04). The conversation picks up on a similar discussion that began in 2014, when a group of geoscientists drew attention to a series of micro-fractures that had appeared in the lower legs of the five-tonne sculpture.
- A petition has been launched to prevent the Saint Louis Art Museum from loaning George Caleb Bingham’s 1854–55 painting Verdict of the People to the White House for Donald Trump’s inaugural luncheon, which will take place on January 20. The statement attached to the petition, which has gained close to 2,500 signatures, reads: ‘We object to the painting’s use as an inaugural backdrop and an implicit endorsement of the Trump presidency and his expressed values of hatred, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. We reject the use of the painting to suggest that Trump’s election was truly the “verdict of the people”’.
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