May 28, 2015: Massive Arrests in China After $80 Million in Artifacts Looted & A New Fund for Artists in Conflict Zones
Opening
In New York …
The New Museum’s IDEAS CITY Festival opens today and runs through Saturday, May 30th.
Check out our neighborhood guide to tonight’s NYC openings.
In Los Angeles …
“Car: Et Mon Droit,” with works by David Birkin, Etienne Chambaud, and Jill Magid, among others, opens at Copperfield.
In Paris …
Earlier this week, 175 individuals in China were arrested for involvement in the theft and trafficking of over 1,000 artifacts valued at a total of approximately $80 million. Officials are calling the arrests “the largest police raid in the country’s history.” Of the people arrested, four are archeologists and one is a “master raider,” who determined where to search for the looted items based on feng shui. (via The Art Newspaper)
For the first time in its history, Artadia has given grants to its entire list of finalists, 10 in all. The nonprofit has awarded $10,000 each to Georgia Sagri and Park McArthur, and $5,000 each to Joe Fyfe, Bill Jenkins, Sara Magenheimer, Jennie Jieun Lee, Donna Huanca, Eric Mack, Yevgeniya Baras, and Kameelah Rasheed. (via ARTnews)
The Institute of International Education, which awards Fulbright fellowships each year, has inaugurated The Artist Protection Fund, a project which aims to use its $2.79 million in funding to provide grants to artists in conflict zones as well as set them up with host institutions in safer countries. The three-year pilot program was created to supplement the 2002-established Scholar Rescue Fund, after it became evident that certain individuals in need were not eligible for the existing aid. (via The Art Newspaper)
The Graham Foundation will grant some $490,000 to 63 projects across disciplines and media ranging from architecture to podcast to performance. Winners include artist Michael Rakowitz as well as Richard Pare, a photographer who is taking Le Corbusier’s architecture as his subject, and Elizabeth Lennard, who will perform an Eileen Gray-inspired work. (via Artforum)
Effective next month, the Walker Art Center’s film and video department will now be called the “Moving Image department,” a shift that, according to the senior curator of the department, reflects evolving artistic practices. In addition to the name change, the Minneapolis institution will inaugurate Walker Moving Image Commissions, commissions by six artists—kicked off by Moyra Davey and James Richards—that will be shown online, as well as a new screening room dubbed the Walker Mediatheque. (via ARTnews)
David Little is leaving his post as photography curator at Minneapolis Institute of Arts to begin tenure as director and chief curator at Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum. Little has previously worked at the Whitney and MoMA and curated over 20 exhibitions during his seven years at the MIA. (via the Star Tribune)
Michael Taylor, who was recently dismissed from his role as head of Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, has been named as the new chief curator and deputy director for art and education at Richmond’s Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (via Valley News)
Best of Instagram
Via @diaartfoundation: “Robert Irwin, “Excursus: Homage to the Square³” installation week 7: Robert Irwin installs the lights. Opens June 1 at Dia:Beacon.”
Via @hankwillisthomas: “Ça commence #blackportraitures conference #omarviktordiop @omar_viktor #nanaaduseipoku”
Via @suealexleo: “. a gate to the other side .”
Good Reads
“Jasper Johns behind new Manhattan project space” (via The Art Newspaper)
“You Can Now Buy a $90,000 Richard Prince Instagram Work or a $90 ‘Copy’” (via the New York Times)
“Why Russian art has been left in the cold” (via The Art Newspaper)
Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.
