Greater Manchester residents invited to contribute to five-year cultural strategy Manchester city council has launched a consultation on its new cultural strategy, with the 2.6m people living in Greater Manchester invited to offer their opinions on how the city can become “the best place in the world to create, participate and engage with culture and heritage”.
The strategy includes three key themes on which culture can have an impact: health and wellbeing, education and the economy, and regeneration and communities.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told Arts Professional that diversity is central to the cultural strategy: “We will work with relevant organisations to ensure that our workforce reflects and speaks to a broad range of people and supports all residents in the city region on their cultural endeavour.”
The consultation closes on 6 November 2018, with the final document due to be published before the end of the year.
New report claims art leaders are at increasingly high risk of burnout The report on cultural leadership, which was written by independent consultant Sue Hoyle and researchers at Kings College London, says that burnout should be recognised as a serious health concern. Amongst the causes are low pay, a lack of work-life balance, limited opportunities for career development, and the ongoing pressure to ‘do more with less’.
The report, which was commissioned by Arts Council England, warns: “The demands on the cultural workforce – and on its leadership in particular – mean that the sector may be vulnerable to burnout. If this is true, the consequences will be considerable.”
Isa Genzken wins 2019 Nasher Prize for sculpture German artist will receive will $100,000 in prize money, plus an award designed by architect Renzo Piano, who also designed the Nasher Sculpture Centre. In a career spanning four decades, Genzken is known for creating work inspired by popular culture and historic events, including the second world war, and exploring the complexities of contemporary realism.
Her work has been featured in a number of high profile exhibitions, including: Documenta (1982, 1992, and 2002), Skulptur Projekte Münster (1987, 1997, and 2007), and the Venice Biennale (1982, 1993, 2003, 2007, and 2015).
Genzken was selected by a jury including artists Phyllida Barlow and Huma Bhabha; Pablo León de la Barra, curator at large of Latin America at the Guggenheim Museum; Lynne Cooke, senior curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; Okwui Enwezor, former director of the Haus der Kunst; Briony Fer, professor of the History of Art at the University College London; Yuko Hasegawa, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; Hou Hanru, artistic director of MAXXI, Rome; and Nicholas Serota, chair of the Arts Council England.
Barlow said: “Genzken makes work that retains its spontaneity right to the last. She uses an extraordinarily diverse range of materials and forms, so there is a continuous unpredictability as to what the next body of work might and can be. The work is always evolving and therefore her influence is exceptional on artists of all ages.”
Documenta artists protest ‘fascist mindset’ after death of performer Zak Kostopoulos Over 140 artists and participants in last year’s Documenta have sent an open letter to Greek authorities condemning the death of LGBTQ activist and drag performer Zak Kostopoulos, who was beaten to death on 21 September.
According to reports, he was attacked in a jewellery shop in Athens and kicked in the head, which caused his death on the way to hospital. Kostopoulos’ attackers also apparently filmed the assault.
The letter states: “The public killing of Zak Kostopoulos bears strong resemblance to lynching. Greek leaders need to take an unequivocal position against violence and the increasing number of cases of violence targeting minorities and underprivileged members of society in Greece. It is crucial to understand and expose the larger fascist mindset that propels such incidents and renders them as socially acceptable acts of retribution.”
Amongst the letter’s signatories are Documenta 14 artistic director Adam Szymczyk and former CEO Annette Kulenkampff, plus artists including Maria Hassabi, Hiwa K, Naeem Mohaiemen, Rosalind Nashashibi and Vivian Suter.
Banksy artwork self-destructs moments after being sold for £1m sale at auction A canvas version of Girl With Balloon, one of Banksy’s most recognisable artworks which first appeared on a wall in Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch, east London, sold at an auction at Sotheby’s, London, for £1.04m, equalling the artist’s previous auction record.
However, moments after a hammer signalled the end of the sale, the work began to pass through a shredder installed in its frame, destroying the canvas. Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s senior director and head of contemporary art in Europe, told the Guardian: “It appears we just got Banksy-ed.”
Nevertheless, Joey Syer, co-founder of the website MyArtBroker.com, which resells Banksy pieces, claimed: “Prices now are regularly exceeding £115,000 for signed authenticated prints. This is now part of art history in its shredded state and we’d estimate Banksy has added at a minimum 50% to its value, possibly as high as being worth £2m-plus.”
French court orders return of stolen Pissarro painting to Jewish family La Cueillette des pois (Pea Picking) was stolen from a Jewish collector, Simon Bauer, in 1943 by the Vichy government that collaborated with the Nazis. The painting’s American owners – American collectors Bruce and Robbi Toll – said they had no idea of its history when they bought the artwork for $800,000 at auction in 1995.
However, the French court declared that sales of all goods looted from Jewish people by the Nazis or the French Vichy regime were deemed to be void by France’s post-war authorities in 1945. Jean-Jacques Bauer, who is Simon Bauer’s grandson, spotted the work when it was on display after being lent to the Marmottan Museum in Paris for a retrospective on Pissarro last year.
The Tolls had previously appealed against an earlier ruling ordering them to hand over the work and have said they will take the case to the cassation court, which is France’s highest appeal court.
Tate watercolour upgraded to a Gauguin following research The work was previously thought to be from the artist’s circle, rather than by Gauguin himself. However, following research for the Van Gogh Museum exhibition ‘Gauguin and Laval in Martinique’, it has been reclassified.
The work was originally bequeathed to the Tate by the Earl of Sandwich in 1962. He had purchased it from the collection of Paco Durrio, a Spanish sculptor who was a friend of Gauguin. A Tate spokesperson said: “We welcome this exciting research and we will be reconsidering the attribution of the work accordingly.”
Image:
1. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. Photo: Alan Williams
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