Police arrest one Hundred at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum Amid Protests Over New Lockdown Measures + Other Stories
Plus, Paris’s “artists square” is virtually empty and Moscow is displacing hundreds of artists from their studios.
- Artnet News
- 1 day ago
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Monday, January 25.
NEED-TO-READ
Four Plead Not Guilty To Toppling Statue in UK – Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Jake Skuse, and Sage Willoughby pleaded not guilty in court this morning to charges of toppling a 17th-century statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, UK. The bronze statue was pushed into the harbor this past summer during worldwide Black Lives Matter protests. The four will face a hearing on February 8. (Standard)
Moscow Artists’ Studios Are Being Razed – Around 500 studios have been earmarked for demolition in the Russian capital due to a government plan seeking to revamp the Khrushchyovka buildings, which appear throughout Moscow, into residences. More than 700 artists are facing an imminent risk of displacement and have so far been offered no concrete alternatives for their studios. The buildings, which have hosted artists since the 1960s, are leftovers of a government-subsidized studio platform that sought to train artists in the Soviet Union. (The Art Newspaper, Artforum)
Tear Gas and Protests Erupt at Van Gogh Museum – Anti-lockdown protests took place over the weekend in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The demonstrators were pushing back against a new emergency 9 p.m. curfew intended to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. The rally ended with tear gas and water canons shot into the crowd, which had gathered outside of the Van Gogh Museum. More than 100 people were arrested. (Standard)
Paris Artists Struggle Amid Lockdowns – The historic Place du Tertre in Paris is normally bustling with 250 artists who rent in the square to paint portraits of visitors, but the lack of tourism this past year has brought extremely hard times on these painters, portraitists, and caricaturists, and the square is virtually empty. Belle époque artists like Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, and Picasso all once lived and worked in the area, the so-called “artists square.” (Guardian)
