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The Headlines
THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR.TheWadsworth Atheneum Museum of Artin Hartford, Connecticut, has tappedMatthew Hargravesto be its director. Hargraves has been with the Wadsworth since June 2021, when he joined as interim chief curator, after being chief curator of art collections at theYale Center for British Artin New Haven.Tom Loughmanstepped downas director and CEO in April of 2021, and in November, theHartford Courantreports, the museumsplit the positioninto two jobs. (Jeffrey N. Browntook on the CEO role.) “With an extraordinarily committed and professional staff and an exceptional senior leadership team, we can reaffirm the Wadsworth’s rightful position as the leading arts institution in our region,” Hargraves said in a statement, “and reassert its international reputation as North America’s most pioneering art museum.”
ART AND LABOR.Workers at theBaltimore Museum of Artvoted to unionizeon Thursday, theBaltimore Business Journalreports. The vote was 89 to 29 to join theAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Over in Pennsylvania, staffers at thePhiladelphia Museum of Artheld a rallyon Wednesday amid contract negotiations, theArt Newspaperreports. Employees have been without a contract since unionizing in 2020. AndArtforumreports that theMaryland Institute College of Artannounced layoffsin thewake of a recent successful union vote. Around 10 percent of the union’s bargaining team is expected to be let go in the move. In a statement, MICA said that the restructuring is “a response to the short-term impact of the pandemic on enrollment as well as long-range strategic considerations.”
The Digest
Perrotinis taking a second space in Seoul, with plans to open in the metropolis’s luxe Gangnam neighborhood in early September. Gallery partnerAlice Lungsaid that a Los Angeles outpost could be a “natural next step” for the international firm.[Financial Times]
Nightlife kingMark Fleischman, who owned the storiedStudio 54club in New York in the 1980s, died by assisted suicide in Switzerland on Wednesday. He was 82, and had a degenerative condition. “I have done everything and been everywhere and met everyone I want to meet,”he toldtheNew York Postlast month.
[BBC NewsandThe Washington Post]
A court in Eastern Russian cleared artist and activistYulia Tsvetkovaof pornography charges for posting artworks on social media that her supporters say are efforts to promote body positivity. She had faced six year in prison. Prosecutors can appeal.[The Moscow Times]
A work by artistYu Buckat theJeonnam Museum of Artin Gwangyang, South Korea, that involves goldfish slowly dying in IV bags drew animal-cruelty accusations, and the fish have been removed. Yu has framed the work as a commentary on the violence of human nature.[The Korea Times]
An exhibition at theNevada Museum of Artin Reno features photographs thatJanna Irelandhas taken of buildings by the pioneering Black architectPaul Revere Williams.[The New York Times]
David Zwirnertoasted the one-anniversary of its online platform,Platform, with a party at theBowery Hotelin New York.[Vogue]
The Kicker
TOUGH TALK.Ina profile inWallpaper, artistCecilia Vicuñashared a harrowing story about feedback she received after pitching a show of her work at theInstitute of Contemporary Artsin the 1970s. She said that ICA cofounderRoland Penrosetold her, “You are a great artist, but my board is absolutely adamant that you should not have an exhibition here. They think that you are worthless. But be sure, you will encounter this throughout your life, but you have to know within yourself that that’s not true.” He ended up giving her a show in a hallway, and Vicuña is, of course, now one of the most widely exhibited artists on the planet.[Wallpaper]