Art Industry News: An Instagram Marketplace Where Artists Buy Each Other’s Work Has Generated $10 Million in Under a Week + Other Stories

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
25.

NEED-TO-READ

Students Slam Art College’s Online Degree Show –
More than 4,500 students and
artists have signed a petition lambasting London’s Royal College of
Art for its plan to convert their degree show into an online-only
exhibition. Graduating students who cannot safely access their
studios are asking the RCA to suspend its programs and delay the
exhibition until they can return to college safely. “They should
promise to fulfill their agreement with us, rather than getting rid
of us quickly in order to get the next cohort in,” the statement
says. (Guardian)

How France’s Museums Are Coping – More than half of Paris’s Grand Palais staff
are out of work, as the cultural landmark (and venue for FIAC each
fall) loses an estimated €50,000 ($54,100) per day while the
lockdown continues in France. Curators and directors of France’s
prestigious museums are scrambling to shift their programming to
the summer and fall via video conference calls. Bernard Blistène,
director of the Centre Pompidou (which has a major show by Christo
on view behind closed doors), is hopeful that things will return to
normal by fall. (Journal des Arts)

Instagram Marketplace Generates £9 Million in Pledges for
Artists – A platform
called #ArtistsSupportPledge developed by UK-based Matthew Burrows has
generated impressive results in just under a week. Under the
scheme, artists are invited to post pictures on Instagram of works
available for £200 or less; every time an artist sells more than
£1,000 worth of art, they must pledge to buy a £200 work by another
participating artist. So far, 9,000 pledges have been made in just
four days, equivalent to around £9 million ($10.6 million)
worth of pledged money for the artists involved. (It is unclear how
many of these pledges have actually been paid out.) “The goodwill
has been unbelievable from everywhere in the world—from El
Salvador, to America, Germany, New Zealand, Italy, and Australia,”
Burrows says. (The Art Newspaper)

A Generation of Artists Might Be Lost – Super-curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev weighs
in on how the current global health situation will affect the arts.
Aside from the long-term impact of an economic downturn, the
curator laments the very real threat to an entire older generation
of artists and intellectuals. “It’s very, very important to protect
the old right now,” she says. “A whole generation might be wiped
out. Normal people, but also artists, writers, philosophers,
architects and filmmakers. It can be traumatic for a culture and a
civilization.” (Frieze)

ART MARKET

A Sam Francis Heads to Sotheby’s – While this stretch of
March is usually dominated by announcements of major lots headed to
the spring sales, such disclosures have been notably absent from
the auction houses as they reshuffle their calendars. Sotheby’s,
however, is still planning to offer works from Hunk and Moo
Anderson’s collection in their yet-to-be-rescheduled May sales. One
highlight: Sam Francis’s 1956
oil painting Deep Blue,
Yellow, Red, estimated at $5 to 7 million. (Art Market Monitor)

Urban Art Auction Soars Past Estimates – It turns out that during lockdown, what
the people really want is… art by KAWS and Mr. Brainwash? Despite
the current market lull, Heritage Auctions hosted a successful
urban art sale on Tuesday, with 99 percent of lots sold and
$723,250 realized across the 66 lots. Many works flew past their
pre-sale estimates, including examples by KAWS, Mr. Brainwash, and
Alec Monopoly. (Press
release)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Ralf Biel Named Head of a World Cultural Heritage Site –
The German curator will lead the Völkinger Hütte, an ironworks
factory with robust cultural programming in Saarland, Germany. Biel
was forced to resign from his position as
director at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in December 2018
after planning a controversial exhibition on oil. (Press
release)

New São Paulo Art Institution Opens – Amid a slew of institutions
closing their doors, one private nonprofit in Brazil has gone
ahead with its grand opening. The Instituto de Arte Contemporanea,
founded by dealer Raquel Arnaud in 1997 to research Brazilian
Modern and contemporary artists, has opened a permanent
headquarters in São Paulo. (Artforum)

Made in L.A. Biennial Is Postponed – The Hammer Museum’s “Made in L.A.” biennial is
postponing its summer opening from June 7 until July 19 in order to
protect public health. The biennial’s organizers write in a
statement that they are aware that the current situation “is still
unfolding and that [they] may face additional hurdles in the
future.” (ARTnews)

Francis Alÿs Wins Swedish Art Prize – The Belgian artist has won the nearly $40,000
Rolf Schock Prize in Visual Arts. Selected for a body of work that
is “as profound as it is extensive,” the interdisciplinary artist
will receive the accolade at a ceremony in Stockholm on October 19.
(Artforum)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Luxury Brands Unite to Produce Medical Supplies
– The fashion industry is
rallying to produce urgently needed masks and other gear for
frontline medical workers. Prada has pledged to make 110,000 masks
by April 6; Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga, all owned by
the conglomerate Kering, have promised to donate 40 million in the
coming weeks. Meanwhile, Donatella Versace pledged more than
$200,000 to Milan’s San Raffaele hospital; Mayhoola, the parent
company of Valentino and Balmain, pledged $2 million to Italian
hospitals; and Giorgio Armani pledged $1.4 million.
(Guardian)

How to Turn Your Bedroom into a Camera Obscura –
The UK-based photographer Brendan
Barry has made a video tutorial to teach (presumably very bored)
people how to transform their bedrooms into a camera obscura and
turn their bathrooms into a darkroom to create creepy, compelling
prints—no camera needed. How’s that for a quarantine project?
(Design Boom)

The post Art Industry News: An Instagram Marketplace Where
Artists Buy Each Other’s Work Has Generated $10 Million in Under a
Week + Other Stories appeared first on artnet News.