Art Industry News: KAWS Has Created a Free Augmented Reality ‘Companion’ to Entertain Those Stuck at Home + Other Stories

by admin

Mar 18, 2020

artnet

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most
consequential developments coming out of the art world and art
market. Here’s what you need to know on this Wednesday, March
18.

NEED-TO-READ

Van Dyck Thieves May Have Escaped by Boat – In a scenario fit for a heist movie,
police in Oxford have said that the thieves who made off with
three masterpieces from Christ Church Picture Gallery may have
escaped on a boat. Authorities are asking anyone who saw anything
suspicious on the river or has come across an abandoned boat to
come forward. But don’t get too carried away: The detective in
charge of the case has stressed that the boat theory “is just a
hypothesis at this time.” (BBC)

Are Hourly Museum Workers Getting Paid? – Part-time and hourly employees working at
museums across the US are largely still being paid through the end
of March, according to a survey by the Los Angeles Times.
But the institutions surveyed nearly all said that the coronavirus
situation was “moving too fast” for them to speak for their
policies after April 1, which is causing concern for precarious
workers in the museum industry. The Getty Museum, however, is
setting an example, stating that it will pay all of its part-time
and hourly workers “as long as this goes on,” and is giving these
workers an additional three weeks of paid sick leave.
(Los Angeles
Times)

KAWS Offers a Free AR Companion for Those in Quarantine
– Last week, KAWS launched a new
initiative with Acute Art that brought AR versions of his
floating sculptures to landmarks in 12 cities around the world. But
he developed a late-stage addition when it became clear that much
of the audience would be staying home to prevent the spread of
coronavirus. So the artist has updated the app with a new sculpture
can be unleashed in any environment. “Given the current situation
with COVID-19 we do not encourage the gathering of people, but
instead, propose that you enjoy this small version
of COMPANION (EXPANDED) for free in the comfort
of your own space,” said KAWS in a statement. (Instagram)

When Your Big Break Gets Interrupted by a Pandemic –
As the coronavirus continues to
shutter museums, galleries, and other art organizations, young and
emerging artists are coming to terms with the fact that their
shining debuts have been interrupted. “It’s been a combination of
mourning the culmination of months of work and also reeling over
the scope and unknowability of this problem,” says artist Mamie
Tinkler, whose first solo show in New York is among those that have
been canceled. (NYT)

ART MARKET

The Art Market Begins to
Feel Coronavirus’s Impact – The
Telegraph concisely recaps the toll that coronavirus
outbreak measures have taken on the art market, including fair and auction
cancellations and postponements. The trouble for the industry
kicked into high gear one week ago, when the TEFAF fair ended early
after a staff member of Italy’s Tornabuoni Gallery tested positive
for the virus. At least four other exhibitors also reported
symptoms. (Telegraph)

Sotheby’s Sales Carry On – The auction
house held two solidly performing sales despite the fact that much
of the world is on lockdown. Sotheby’s bi-annual “Made in
Britain” auction on Tuesday brought in an total of $2.6 million,
exceeding its high estimate of $2.3 million, while its contemporary
South Asian art auction totaled $4.8 million, just inching past its
$4.7 million high estimate. (Press release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

SCAD Hong Kong to Close
– The Savannah College of Art and Design’s Hong Kong
outpost will close indefinitely in June. The school has been
holding classes online since February due to the coronavirus, but
gave no explanation for the closure beyond “student safety and
academic quality.” More than 2,600 students and alumni have signed
an online petition decrying the move. (Artforum)

The Opening of Pinault’s Paris Art Museum Is Postponed –
The opening of François Pinault’s
highly anticipated new Paris art museum in the former Bourse de
Commerce has been postponed from mid-June until September. A
precise new opening date has yet to be announced.
(Press
release)

Stonehenge Will Shut
Down – English Heritage and the National Trust have
decided to close Stonehenge in light of the coronavirus
outbreak. Old Sarum and Old Wardour Castle are also closed
indefinitely. (SpireFM)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Why This Nazi Loot
Researcher Quit – Veteran provenance
researcher Sibylle Ehringhaus worked with the Georg Schäfer Museum
in Germany to research the history of its collection. But before
long, she began to wonder why the city of Schweinfurt, which
manages the museum, had hired her at all. Several works she
identified were not returned; the Schäfer family maintains that
restitution claims should be handled by the government, not by
individual collectors. (New York
Times)

How Great Artists Tackled Plagues – Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones believes that much of
Europe’s greatest art emerged during times of plague. Jones
assembled a list of masterworks, from Dürer’s
Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse (1498)
through treasures by Titian, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio, in the hope
that they might “console us” or guide us in the trying time of
coronavirus. (Guardian)

An Art Critic Organizes
His Books in Quarantine – Meanwhile, Los Angeles
Times art critic Christopher Knight is spending his time
in quarantine sorting through his shelves of 2,000 books.
“Rummaging through bookshelves is a different experience from
searching online,” he writes. “Both court serendipity. But the
accident of a book, perhaps because it is a physical object rather
than the glowing ephemera of digital pixels, is of another order.
It has a singular density and weight.” (Los
Angeles
Times)

Ai Weiwei Encourages
People to “Stay Home… And Stay Together” – The
Chinese artist has shared a video on the Palazzo Strozzi’s new
online platform, In Contact, encouraging people to
stay home. “There is no border, no nationality, or different class
or religion that can really escape from this almost very democratic
virus,” Ai says. “We have to struggle, it requires solidarity,
understanding, scientific research, but more it requires a
perspective on life itself.” (Palazzo Strozzi)