Art Industry News: the Museum of Chinese in America’s Archives, Feared Lost, Are ‘Very Much Salvageable’ + Other Stories

by admin

Jan 30, 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 Thursday, January
30.

NEED-TO-READ

The Super Bowl Is the Biggest Art Show in Miami Right Now
– As the Super Bowl returns to
Miami, organizers are celebrating the city’s street artists by
inviting them to commemorate Super Bowl LIV in a series of murals
around the city. They also turned over the game’s tickets and
program to artist Tristan Eaton, who transformed them into an
explosion of tropical color. The participating artists—including
Dasic Fernandez, RISK, and Kelsey Montague—were selected by
Jessica Goldman, a member of the Super Bowl host committee and CEO
of Goldman Properties. And that’s not the only art-related event
tied to the Super Bowl: Deaf artist Christine Sun
Kim will also sign the national anthem during the
broadcast. (NYT)

The Art World Tries to Become More Eco-Conscious –
After art advisor and market
journalist Josh Baer made an art world “call to arms” for the
environment in his last newsletter, the Baer Faxt, several
art-market participants came through with commitments. Hauser &
Wirth is canceling its dinner during Art Basel in June, opting
instead to donate the allotted budget to Art for Acres, which will
be matched by Global Wildlife Conservation to conserve five square
miles of forest. (“We will also ask our clients to do the same,”
the gallery’s co-founder Iwan Wirth said.) Meanwhile, Christie’s is reducing
auction catalogue waste by 50 percent this year, Peter Halley’s
studio is offsetting its carbon footprint, and former auctioneer
Loïc Gouzer suggests
that collectors donate works to an environmental charity auction,
which he has offered to organize. (Baer Faxt)

Museum of Chinese in America Archives May Be Saved
– There may be a rare happy ending to the tragic
story of a five-alarm fire at a
Chinatown building that housed the archives of the Museum of
Chinese in America in New York. After city workers began recovering
the museum’s boxes from the building on Wednesday, MOCA’s president
said that the materials appear to be “very much salvageable.” The
first set of boxes will be immediately sent to Allentown,
Pennsylvania, where they will be put in freezers in order to be
stabilized. Recovery efforts to salvage the rest of the
archive—which contains 85,000 objects tracing the history of the
growth of the Chinese diaspora in New York and the wider US—are
ongoing. (Gothamist)

New Photograph of the Sun Wows the World
– The largest solar telescope in the world has
captured the best picture ever taken of the surface of the sun.
Thanks to the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) in
Hawaii, the world can observe the honeycomb-like pattern of plasma
that roils across the sun’s surface. The image is five times the
resolution of images from the next-best solar telescope. “We
have now seen the smallest details on the largest object in our
solar system,” said Thomas Rimmele, the director of DKIST.
(New
Scientist)

ART MARKET

A Salvador Dalí Diptych Could Fetch $13 Million at
Bonhams – Dalí’s 1937
diptych painting titled Couple With Their Heads Full of
Clouds will be sold at Bonhams London on March 26 with an
estimate of £7 million to £10 million ($9 million to $13 million).
The surrealist depiction of the artist and his wife Gala is up for
sale as part of the collection of Modernist composer Giacinto
Scelsi; it does not carry a guarantee. (TAN)

Rare 17th-Century Wine Bottles Could Fetch $22,000 –
An eagle-eyed construction worker
unearthed a hoard of rare 17th-century wine bottles at a building
site in the UK. The bottles are now headed for auction at BBR
Auctions of Elsecar, South Yorkshire, next month, where they could
sell for as much as £20,000 ($22,000). (Daily
Mail)

COMINGS & GOINGS

Bruce High Quality
Foundation Founder to Lead Children’s Museum – Seth
Cameron, a founder of the collective known as the Bruce
High Quality Foundation and a former president of its alternative
art school, BHQFU, will be the next executive director of the
Children’s Museum of the Arts in SoHo. He takes up his post on
February 3. (NYT)

Independent Curators
International Names Deputy Director – Frances Wu
Giarratano has been named deputy director of the curatorial
organization, where she will lead daily operations and work on
long-term strategy and programming. Giarratano joins ICI from the
American Federation of Arts. (Artforum)

Les Wexner May Step Down
From Victoria’s Secret – The billionaire CEO of the
lingerie brand’s parent company, L Brand, is in talks to step down.
Wexner, who is an avid art collector and founded an arts center in
Columbus, Ohio, has been trying to distance himself
from the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wexner came under intense pressure after Epstein’s arrest last July
for having employed him as a personal adviser, giving him powers
over his finances, philanthropy, and private
affairs. (NYT)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Dia Announces Lineup for
New York Location – The Dia Art Foundation’s Chelsea
space will reopen on September 19 with free admission and an
exhibition by American artist Lucy Raven, who has been commissioned
to create two new works that will explore the depiction of the
American West. Meanwhile, at Dia Beacon, the first institutional
survey of Mario Merz in 30 years will debut in May.
(Press
release)

Joan Mitchell Foundation
Announces Artists in Residence – The New Orleans
foundation has named 37 residents for its 2020 program, including
Ebony G. Patterson, Stephanie Syjuco, andScott Andresen. Each will
receive studio space on the center’s two-acre campus along with a
$600 monthly stipend. (Artforum)

Asia Society Names
Inaugural Triennial Participants – New York’s Asia
Society has announced the more than 40 artists and collectives from
19 nations who will participate in the inaugural Asia Society
Triennial, which will unfold across multiple venues in New York
City beginning June 5. Titled “We Do Not Dream Alone,” the
exhibition will include Chinese film director Lu Yang, New York
artist Jordan Nassar, and Japanese collective teamLab.
(Press
release)