May 8, 2015: Occupy Guggenheim Hits Venice & Frances Stark Wins the Absolut Art Award
Opening
In New York …
Spring Masters, with presentations by ACA Galleries, David Richard Gallery, Heather James Fine Art, Todd Merrill Studio, Opera Gallery, Salon 94, and Waterhouse & Dodd, among others, opens at the Park Avenue Armory and runs through May 12th.
In Venice …
The 56th Venice Biennale opens to the public; follow our on-the-ground coverage here.
Today’s Notable News
This morning, three activist groups—including the Gulf Labor Coalition, which is a participant in Okwui Enwezor’s 136-artist exhibition for this year’s Venice Biennale—occupied the Peggy Guggenheim Collection’s dock landing in Venice. The sit-in follows last week’s protest at the Guggenheim in New York, and is the latest in a series of efforts to improve the conditions for migrant workers on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island, where branches of the Guggenheim and the Louvre, among others, are currently being built. (via Hyperallergic)
A conservator has uncovered Titian’s signature on a work long believed to be painted by an imitator after the master’s death. With its identity now confirmed, the newly restored Titian’s Mistress will go on view at London’s Apsley House this summer. (via The Guardian)
Frances Stark, Bicornate Bicornous, 2013, courtesy of the artist.
Frances Stark has won the the 2015 Absolut Art Award, chosen this year by a jury including Massimiliano Gioni, Jessica Morgan, Negar Azimi, and Doryun Chung. Read our interview with Stark, where she spills her plans for a collaboration with DJ Quik.
Applications are open for the 2016 edition of The Armory Show, which will open at New York’s Piers 92 & 94 next March.
Actor and artist Leo Fitzpatrick has been named director of New York’s Marlborough Chelsea. Fitzpatrick, who closed his project space Home Alone 2 in January, will stage similarly-styled pop-up shows at the gallery starting in September. (via ARTnews)
Best of Instagram
Via @artforum: “Christoph Büchel in collaboration with the Muslim Communities of Venice and Iceland, The Mosque, for the #IcelandicPavilion #VeniceBiennale”
Via @vikmuniz: “The Lampedusa cruises in front of San Marco.”
Via @metmuseum: “‘I think I’m looking at cartoons of another time that I can’t decipher anymore.’ —Artist Deborah Kass (@debkass) on Athenian vases.”
Good Reads
“Suddenly, Tehran’s Mayor Becomes a Patron of the Arts” (via the New York Times)
“Whitney Curators on the Decision to Display 5 Provocative 1930s Anti-Lynching Prints” (via Vulture)
“Three Women Who Deserve the Brooklyn Museum ‘First’ Award Way More Than Miss Piggy” (via New York Observer)
Want to catch up with the rest of this week’s news? Review past Daily Digests here.