Greetings and congratulations on making it to the end of another week of summer doldrums. As we move into the weekend, there’s still plenty of reading to catch up on, whether you’re spending the next few days indoors or headed to the beach.
Here’s what you need to know:
Anish Kapoor is renovating a Venetian palace into his workshop and exhibition headquarters
The Anish Kapoor Foundation has gotten the go-ahead to convert the crumbling Palazzo Priuli Manfrin into an exhibition space, storage for Kapoor’s work, and artist’s studio. The canal-side palace, originally built around 1520 as the seat of power for the Priuli family, was reconstructed toward the end of the 18th century.
The Anish Kapoor Foundation will reportedly turn the palace’s entire first floor into a gallery for both temporary exhibitions as well as displays of the foundation’s permanent collection (which will continue on the second floor). A ground-level bookstore overlooking the canal is also planned. Above that will reportedly be conference space, art storage, and archives, and the foundation plans on preserving the building’s historic interior finishes where possible.
H/t to The Art Newspaper
Gagosian will release a video accompanying Frank Gehry’s Spinning Tales
To complement Spinning Tales, an exhibition of Frank Gehry’s sculptural work currently on display at the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills through August 6, Gagosian will put a video on YouTube August 5 exploring both the work on display and Gehry’s artistic process. The video will feature new pieces performed by Esperanza Spalding and Gustavo Dudamel with the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (not the first time Gehry has worked with Spalding) in response to the dynamic fish sculptures on display, as well as a tour of Gehry’s Los Angeles studio space.
A Palm Springs court (tentatively) upholds installation of the massive Marilyn Monroe statue
Opponents of the 26-foot-tall Forever Marilyn sculpture, a risqué upskirt sculpture of the late actress parked in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum, have lost their court case to rehome the statue—mainly. On July 28, a Riverside County Superior Court judge threw out four of the six points a group called the Committee to Relocate Marilyn had brought against the City of Palm Springs, only allowing the claims that the museum violated state planning and zoning statutes. The case will tentatively move forward, but with much of the case’s original standing nullified.
H/t to the Desert Sun
As in-person arts events reopen, pandemic accessibility concessions are disappearing
As museums, Broadway shows, and galleries reopen to in-person events, it’s coming with one major downside (other than the still rampant Delta variant of the coronavirus): those same venues are rapidly shutting off their online shows. In the push to get back to “business as usual,” disabled patrons of the arts are increasingly finding themselves once again shut out from visiting the events and shows they were previously able to view (and spend money on) at the height of the pandemic.
H/t to Observer
New York City’s reliance on fossil fuels has grown deeper than ever
Community solar power is the largest growing segment of New York City’s solar growth, but a lapse in funding and possible changes to the fire code (which would edge out the available space on rooftops) could soon hamper its growth. Meanwhile, despite opposition from climate activists and New York State’s own efficiency goals, new gas-fired generator plants could soon get the green light in Queens and Brooklyn.
H/t to the HuffPost
MVRDV defends the Marble Arch Mound after installation is closed
After a week of news stories about negative reactions to the new Marble Arch Mound installation in London, designer MVRDV is speaking out in defense of its work, which was ultimately closed to visitors by the Westminster City Council. Speaking with Dezeen, the Rotterdam-based firm said that changes to the siting resulted in a steeper massing than originally planned, forcing sedum to be used to cover the hill instead of soil. Coupled with London’s “harsh” weather, the plantings have looked a bit lackluster; however, the firm was confident the manmade hill and vantage point would reopen once the plants had grown in more.
H/t to Dezeen
