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Weekly News Roundup: September 20, 2024
By The Editors
Portrait of NOUR KELANI. Courtesy Christie’s Images Limited 2024.
Christie’s Establishes its First Saudi Arabia Outpost
Saudi Arabia has granted the international auction house Christie’s a commercial license to operate in the kingdom, the company announced on September 17. Christie’s will open a sales office in the capital of Riyadh at an unspecified future date, and has named Nour Kelani as the managing director. Kelani comes to Christie’s after working at Ayyam Gallery in Jeddah, where she oversaw the gallery’s Young Collectors Auction and also ran her own luxury and art advisory consultancy. Riyadh will be the second location in the Gulf for Christie’s, which opened in Dubai in 2005. Christie’s has been actively courting the Saudi art scene: its London headquarters hosted a midcareer survey of Saudi artist Ahmed Mater, “Chronicles,” curated by Ridha Moumni, and the auction house was a contributing partner to this year’s 2024 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, in the historic town northwest of Riyadh.
Shortlisted artists for Artes Mundi 2024: (top left to right) ANAWANA HALOBA, ANTONIO PAUCAR, JUMANA EMIL ABBOUD; (bottom left to right) KAMEELAH JANAN RASHEED, SANCINTYA MOHINI SIMPSON, and SAWANGWONGSE YAWNGHWE. Courtesy Artes Mundi, Cardiff.
Artes Mundi 11 Reveals Shortlist
Artes Mundi (AM), the United Kingdom’s leading exhibition and contemporary art prize, has shortlisted six international visual artists for its 11th edition. The nominees for the biennial GBP 40,000 (USD 53,300) prize include Palestinian artist Jumana Emil Abboud; Brisbane-born interdisciplinary artist Sancintya Mohini Simpson; Oslo-based multidisciplinary artist Anawana Haloba; Peruvian sculptor and performance artist Antonio Paucar; American installation artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed; and Myanmar-born artist Sawangwongse Yawnghwe. “Considering the fractious global politics we currently face, the jury noted particular strength in the selected artists’ stories, experiences and inherited memories as timely and necessary,” the AM11 selection committee stated. A three-person panel of curators will announce the winner during the award exhibition held in multiple venues in Wales from October 17, 2025, to February 22, 2026. Established in 2002 and based in Cardiff, the Artes Mundi Prize is dedicated to supporting artists whose works deal with the human condition.
Installation view of LEE BUL’s Long Tail Halo: CTCS #2, 2024, stainless steel, ethylene vinyl acetate, carbon fiber, paint, polyurethane, dimensions variable, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Eugenia Burnett Tinsley. Courtesy the artist and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Lee Bul Sculptures Unveiled at the Met
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) has added four new sculptures by renowned South Korean artist Lee Bul to the institution’s Fifth Avenue facade. Titled Long Tail Halo (2024), the site-specific series marks the fifth installment of the Met’s annual Genesis Facade Commission, and Lee’s first major project in the United States in more than 20 years. The mechanical figures are made of ethylene vinyl acetate, a glossy, rubber-like substance, and polycarbonate, a transparent thermoplastic, over steel armatures looming out of the facade niches. Long Tail Halo: CTCS #1 and Long Tail Halo: CTCS #2 flank the museum entrance, aesthetically recalling Futurism and Cubism, while Long Tail Halo: Secret Sharer II and Long Tail Halo: Secret Sharer III are situated further away and appear like a cluster of prismatic crystals. The abstract works represent the unshakeable human desire for progress and perfection, while also pointing to the consequences that come with these goals. Long Tail Halo will remain on view through May 27, 2025.
MICHAEL PAREKOWHAI in front of his giant rabbit sculpture Cosmo McMurtry at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building in 2006. Courtesy Australian Associated Press Photos.
Melbourne Public Commission Loses Funds
The cost of a public artwork commissioned by Melbourne in 2018 has increased elevenfold, from AUD 2 million (USD 1.4 million) to AUD 22 million (USD 15 million), and its expected completion has been pushed from 2024 to 2027, according to leaked documents obtained by the regional newspaper The Age. The commissioned artist is Māori sculptor Michael Parekōwhai, whose installation project initially centered on an eight-meter bronze kangaroo titled Yesterday. In 2019, the city’s council signed a contract with Parekōwhai that outlined four additional “component works”: Tomorrow, a large bronze statue; Seal and Pleiades, a 30-meter neon-and-light installation; Knowledge, a 50-meter neon rainbow; and Intention, a five-meter neon sign. This expanded scope was approved based on the assumption that external funding would cover the extra costs. However, the council never secured the additional AUD 4.3 million (USD 2.9 million) from the state government. It remains unclear whether the project will be completed, as Parekōwhai himself has evaded questions on the matter.
Portrait of CELENK BAFRA. Photo by Ali Kabas. Courtesy the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Stockholm.
Istanbul Modern Appoints New Artistic Director
Turkey’s largest museum of modern and contemporary art, the privately owned Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (known as Istanbul Modern), named Çelenk Bafra as its new artistic director. She will take up the post on September 16. With a long track record at Istanbul’s art institutions, including serving as director of the Istanbul Biennial, Bafra also worked as the curator and director of exhibitions and programs at Istanbul Modern from 2011 to 2018. In the years since, she was the director of the private SAHA Association, which offers funding grants to support Turkish artists in international exhibitions and the Istanbul Biennial, and runs the SAHA Studios for residencies in Turkey’s largest city. Istanbul Modern reopened in May 2023 in a new Renzo Piano-designed complex on the Bosporus on the site of its inaugural building location, an old customs warehouse. The museum’s general director, Levent Çalıkoğlu, resigned in September 2023.
Portrait of ZARINA BHIMJI. Photo by Daniella Baptista. Courtesy the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation, Zurich.
Ugandan Indian Artist Wins Major Swiss Prize
The Roswitha Haftmann Prize 2024, Europe’s most highly-endowed contemporary art prize, has been awarded to Ugandan Indian photographer, filmmaker, and installation artist Zarina Bhimji. The London-based artist is the 22nd recipient of the award and was selected by a jury comprising board members of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation. The institution stated: “In [Bhimji]’s work, which seems more relevant today than ever, life, art, politics and history are combined in an unmistakable way without betraying one another. The calmly flowing images of Bhimji’s films reveal the poison that lies buried in the romanticized landscapes as well as in national history books.” Established in 2001, the Swiss award is given out every one to three years to outstanding artists for their lifetime achievements, along with CHF 150,000 (USD 177,000) in prize money. Bhimji will receive the award during an official ceremony at the Kunsthaus Zürich museum in Switzerland on November 29.
