Galleries Marian Goodman Gallery is closing its UK venue in Soho, citing Brexit as a central issue. The well-respected New York gallerist had been part of a wave of major international dealers opening lagship showrooms in London over the past decade when it moved into a warehouse refurbished by renowned Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye in 2014 (two years before the EU Referendum). The venue is expected to close at the end of the year, just as the interim Brexit deal expires, while its Paris gallery remains open, presumably to book all its European sales. Commenting on the closure, Marian Goodman said: ‘The current health crisis and Brexit have introduced even more uncertainty into the market, especially for galleries operating in London.’ Is this a sign of a post-Brexit exodus to come?
Gallery Climate Coalition is a new non-pro it organisation founded by London-based gallerists and arts professionals to respond to the climate emergency. The goal is to help the art sector match the Paris Agreement target of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. Founding members include representatives from galleries such as Kate McGarry, Lisson Gallery, Sadie Coles and Thomas Dane as well as art-market service providers like Frieze and Artlogic.
Shapero Modern, the editions wing of the rare-books dealership, is moving across London’s Mayfair district from New Bond Street to 41–43 Maddox Street. The new venue opens 28 January with an exhibition of prints by Frank Stella titled a er one of the US artist’s most-quoted maxims, ‘What You See Is What You See’.
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, which is currently undergoing a major redevelopment, will host the 2021 Turner prize from 29 September to 12 December as part of Coventry’s UK City of Culture celebrations. The jury for the 2021 prize consists of Aaron Cezar, Del ina Foundation director; Kim McAleese, Grand Union programme director; actor Russell Tovey; Zoé Whitley, Chisenhale Gallery director; and regular chair, Alex Farquharson, Tate Britain director.
The Humbolt Forum in Berlin is to open its buildings to the public for the irst time on 17 December, with further phased openings throughout 2021. The institution will be home to the Berlin state ethnographical collection – the irst major show, focused on the ivory trade, will open in May – and one of its central tasks is to wrestle with issues around Berlin’s colonial history. At 323,000sq , the €600m project will be Europe’s largest cultural complex.
Baltimore Museum of Art has been bequeathed 375 artworks from local ilmmaker and collector John Waters. The museum, which presented a retrospective of the polymath’s work in 2018, will receive 90 of his works upon his death as well as pieces by artists such as Nan Goldin, Lee Lozano, Christian Marclay, Catherine Opie, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Gary Simmons and Andy Warhol. In return, the self-anointed ‘Pope of Trash’ will have one of the museum’s European galleries named a er him – the John Waters Rotunda – and, as requested and in keeping with this aesthetic, the toilets in the east lobby will also be rechristened in his name.
Prizes The Marcel Duchamp Prize, the French equivalent of the Turner Prize, has been won by Canadianborn, Paris-based Kapwani Kiwanga for ‘Flowers of Africa’; the artist collects €35,000 for her series of sculptures on the theme of African independence. The prize exhibition, which includes fellow shortlisted artists Alice Anderson, Hicham Berrada and Enrique Ramírez, continues at the Pompidou Centre until 4 January.
The Hugo Boss Prize has been awarded to Deana Lawson, who receives $100,000 and a show at the Guggenheim Museum next year. In the light of the inancial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the other ive shortlisted artists – Nairy Baghramian, Kevin Beasley, Elias Sime, Cecilia Vicuña and Adrián Villar Rojas – were each awarded $10,000.
South Georgia Heritage Trust has announced that Scottish artist Michael Visocchi has won its £2m commission to produce a major work for the remote island, which sits east of the Falklands close to Antarctica. The artist’s proposal, Commensalis – the Spirit Tables of South Georgia, will be sited at an abandoned whaling station and will document, through a reworking of the site’s industrial rivets, the numbers of various whale species taken from the Southern Ocean.
The inaugural Carol Rama Prize has been awarded by Artissima to Kurdish artist Zehra Doğan, who wins a cash prize and a residency at Rama’s studio in Turin, which is preserved as a museum. In 2016 Doğan was arrested over a drawing depicting Turkish forces invading the Kurdish city of Nusaybin that she had posted on Twitter – she spent three years in jail. While imprisoned, the artist smuggled her drawings out as dirty laundry.
The Maria Lassnig Prize, which is awarded by the artist’s foundation in association with a different institutional partner each year, has been won by UK-based Ghanian artist Atta Kwami, who receives €50,000 and a public art commission from the Serpentine Galleries.
The Schering Sti ung Award for Artistic Research has been won by Rabih Mroué, who receives €15,000 and an exhibition at Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art in October.
The Han Ne kens Foundation – Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Award, which is presented to an artist under 35 based in West or Central Asia, has been won by Georgian artist Tekla Aslanishvili, who receives $15,000 to produce a video work that will be presented at ive international partner organisations.
MK Calling 2020, the irst open submission exhibition at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, has awarded prizes to two of the 130 artists featured in the show: Fabienne Hesse collects £4,000 for the Judges’ Award while Stuart Moore receives £1,000 for the Audience Award.
Pivot, the new programme of support for artists in the North West, has announced its inaugural group of artists: Pat Flynn, Garth Gratrix, Bridget O’Gorman, Salma Noor and Chester Tenneson. The initiative, which is aimed at artists who have a proven track-record but who could achieve greater international success yet remain in the region, is delivered by Bluecoat in Liverpool and Castle ield Gallery in Manchester. The selected artists receive £5,000 and access to an 18-month support programme.
Forma Research and Development Grants have been awarded to Onyeka Igwe (Pro ile AM439) and josiane m.h pozi, who each receive £2,500 in order to ‘experiment, take risks and learn new skills’.
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Art Monthly no. 442, December 2020 – January 2021
