February 25, 2015: ISIS Sells Stolen Artifacts in UK & a Museum Guard Removes a Piece of Oscar Murillo’s Madrid Installation

Opening

In New York … “2015 Triennial: Surround Audience,” featuring 51 artists and collectives representing more than 25 countries, opens at the New Museum; “Peter Saul: From Pop to Punk” opens at Venus Over Manhattan; “Joe Goode: There’s Always Tomorrow” opens at Van Doren Waxter; “Jaimie Warren: You Are Not Alone” opens at Higher Pictures; “Joyce Kozloff: Social Studies” opens at French Institute Alliance Française Gallery; “McNair Evans: Confessions for a Son” opens at Sasha Wolf Gallery.

In London … “Antoine Puisais: Between the Manifest and the Hidden” opens at Vigo Gallery; Deimantas Narkevičius opens at Maureen Paley.

In Paris … Hervé Télémaque opens at Centre Pompidou.

In Tokyo … Shunsuke Imai opens at Hagiwara Projects.

Today’s Notable News

The Islamic State extremist group has smuggled nearly 100 looted Syrian artifacts—including Byzantine and Roman coins and pottery—into Britain, where it is selling them to fund its operations. (via The Washington Post)

Director of Zaha Hadid Architects Patrik Schumacher has demanded, via Facebook, that the UK’s state-funded art school system be abolished, based on what he sees as a devaluation of art in society. (via dezeen)

In a new cultural center in Madrid, Oscar Murillo’s installation piece was censored by a museum guard, who removed a banner protesting against the institution that the artist had included in his work. (via Artnet News)

Resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet Wayne McGregor is set to open a new interdisciplinary arts studio in London in 2016, envisioned as a space for artists to collaborate and exchange ideas. (via the New York Times)

Brussels’s contemporary art center WIELS has named former Witte de With curator Zoë Gray as its new senior curator. (via Artforum)

MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center have released the lineup for next month’s 44th annual New Directors/New Films Festival, which will include 26 international features and 16 short films. (via New York Observer)

The five finalists for this year’s Mies van der Rohe Award have been announced, and all the projects will be visited by the jury before the winner of the European Union’s architecture award is announced on May 8th. (via dezeen)

Best of Instagram

Via @lamodernauctions: “Peter Loughrey, Director of Modern Design & Fine Art, takes over the LAMA Blog this week! ‘Peter’s Pick’ for today highlights the collaboration with @artsy and focuses on LA CONNECTIONS. Go to lamodern.com/blog now! #HarryBertoia #PetersPicks #artsy”

Good Reads

“Banksy’s Latest Work? Street Artist Posts Niobe Lookalike on Instagram” (via The Telegraph)

“Finding Misplaced Art is a Lost Cause” (via New York Observer)

“Just Outside Berlin, a Design and Arts Scene Thrives” (via T Magazine)

Artist of the Day

Born on this day in 1953, Martin Kippenberger was an artist who eludes easy categorization, his curious works commentaries on the relevance of painting as medium. His practice questioned the modernist concept of artist as authorial, mythic figure, as he explored his own artistic identity. He shares a birthday with Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919). As a master of impressionism, Renoir also dealt with fundamental questions about the medium of painting and was subject to the modernist narratives with which Kippenberger dealt.

Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.