News from Around the Art World: June 4, 2018
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pledges to return Parthenon sculptures to Greece
Comments come after Unesco calls for “mutually acceptable” solution to 200-year-old issue. The Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says he will work to return the Parthenon sculptures to Greece if elected as British prime minster. Corbyn says the antiquities were “made in and belong to Greece” and that, on entering Downing Street, he would begin “constructive talks” with the Greek government to secure their repatriation.
By Anny Shaw, The Art Newspaper
Art and antiques show preview party benefits Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Nearly 400 guests attended the opening-night party for the second annual Chicago Antiques + Art + Design Show on May 17 at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. The event, produced by Dolphin Promotions, was hosted by the Woman's Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and raised over $200,000 to benefit the programs and care initiatives supported by the board, including a recent commitment to fund a study of collaborative mental health care.
By Candace Jordan, Chicago Tribune
Art Institute uses data to give visitors what they want
If you saw “Degas: At the Track, on the Stage” at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015 or early 2016, you were part of an experiment. The show, a microcosm of the impressionist artist's work, used a sophisticated attendance model to test the effect of smaller exhibits on attendance. Measuring Wi-Fi usage throughout the museum revealed that visitors spent more time in the room containing the Degas exhibit than they would have had that room not contained a special exhibit.
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Crain's Chicago Business
'Happy Place' Art Exhibit Aims to Spread Positivity in Chicago
An art exhibition celebrating the joy of being happy is heading to Chicago after a successful run in Los Angeles. The exhibit, known as “Happy Place,” is a fully immersive space that features a slew of scenes designed to increase positivity and happiness. The world’s largest confetti dome, and a pair of stiletto shoes made of candy are just two of the attractions that are being made available to Chicagoans beginning on June 28.
By James Neveau, NBC Chicago
Cézanne: An old-school approach to the famed artist’s portraiture.
Cézanne Portraits, at the National Gallery in Washington, is indeed, as the curators claim proudly, “the first major museum exhibition” devoted to the portraits of Paul Cézanne, an artist more famous for his shimmering landscapes, still lifes, and bathers. The genre was a modest but persistent presence in the French postimpressionist’s career—fewer than two hundred of the thousand or so canvases he produced in a lifetime (about sixty of which are assembled here).
By Aruna D’Souza, 4Columns
Fire at London’s Hayward Gallery as Rotting Fish Artwork Explodes
Majestic Splendor is composed of sequin-covered rotting fish. When it was shown in 1997 at New York’s MoMA, it had to be removed as the smell made visitors feel sick. For the Hayward show, the fish were placed in potassium permanganate. Although it is not flammable, the chemical does increase the flammability of other combustible materials. On receiving advice, the gallery decided to withdraw the artwork, but it spontaneously combusted mid-removal.
Via Frieze Editorial
