5 Art World Updates
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Just the things you should know this week
1. New Guggenheim, New Design
The Guggenheim has selected the design for its new museum in Helsinki. The design, which was selected after a two-round competition that included 1,715 submissions, comes from Paris-based firm Morea Kusunoki Architects.
The selection is a departure from Guggenheim’s museums in New York, Bilbao and Abu Dhabi, all of which are large, stand alone structures designed by singular, renown architects such as Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright. Comparatively, the new Helsinki facility is a more sectioned building from a four-year-old architectural firm. The structure’s sprawling layout encourages visitors to interweave between the city’s existing culture and the museum’s new artistic additions.
2. Gavin Brown Opens in Harlem
Soaring Manhattan real estate prices have triggered questions over New York’s art culture for years. (How can you have an artistic scene in neighborhoods where most artists and galleries can’t even afford rent?) Amid such ongoing questions, Gavin Brown has announced a relocation of its West Village location that may hint at a future location for NYC’s art scene: Harlem.
Gavin Brown will open the doors to its new location at 461 W 126th Street in September with a solo show of Ed Atkins’ artwork. The move takes the gallery closer to owner Gavin Brown’s own Harlem apartment (between 121st and 122nd streets), which he has converted into an informal gallery multiple times in the past.
3. Shepard Fairey Faces Arrest in Detroit
The Detroit police department has accused renown street artist Shepard Fairy of $9,000 worth of damage to the city, issuing a warrant for his arrest for two counts of malicious destruction of property.
While Fairey was commissioned in May to create an outdoor mural for the Campus Martius building in downtown Detroit, his artwork has since also appeared in 14 other locations around the city, without authorization. Unless Fairey turns himself in to the police he faces arrest and a penalty of more than $10,000 and five years in jail.
4. Bloomberg Names Winners of Public-Art Grants
Bloomberg Philanthropies has selected 4 public art projects across the US to receive up to $1 million in funding. The funds will enable the creation of temporary, outdoor art installations in Los Angeles, Gary, Indiana, Spartanburg, South Carolina and a joint project between Albany, Schenetady and Troy, New York.
The cities were selected from 230 city entries and are also required to contribute some funds to the projects, which will be completed in the next two years. In an official statement regarding the grants, Michael Bloomberg said: “Great public art strengthens cities by making them more exciting and attractive places to live, work, and visit. Public art can also help us to see urban challenges in a new light — and imagine new solutions.”
5. Careful Where You Park Your Art
Apparently “art” is not a good excuse to get out of a parking ticket. This week, an outdoor sculpture by artist Erwin Wurm — known for infusing his art with a sense of humor — was issued a ticket in the German city of Karlsruhe for parking in a restricted parking area.
The museum for which Wurm created the work initially confirmed that the thirty euro ticket was very real and will have to be paid by the museum. However, Karlsruhe mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup has since announced that he would appeal the ticket for the museum.
