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      Ford Foundation Gives $10 Million to Studio Museum in Harlem

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      The grant will support the museum’s director and chief curator, a position held for the last 20 years by Thelma Golden.The Ford Foundation has awarded the Studio Museum in Harlem a grant of $10 million to endow its director and chief curator, a position held for the last 20 years by Thelma Golden.Ford’s president, Darren Walker, announced the grant on Monday at the museum’s annual gala, which honored Golden and promoted plans for the institution’s new home in fall 2025.“The Studio Museum is the only one of New York’s great museums that does not have an endowed director position, which in my view has to be rectified,” Walker said in an interview.“Thelma has elevated this position through her unwavering commitment to excellence and that her position is not endowed is a glaring problem in my view,” Walker added. “Black and brown cultural institutions have always been under-resourced and this is another such example.”Neil Rasmus/BFAThe Ford gift also helps shore up the institution’s future, so that it is not dependent on Golden herself, who is widely considered the front-runner in the search for the next director of the Museum of Modern Art, which is currently underway.“This position naming is a testament to and acknowledgment of the six directors who came before me,” Golden said in an interview, “and also holds a real sense of possibility for the leaders who will come after.”The position will now be titled the Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator, in keeping with other major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Max Hollein is the Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer; MoMA, where Glenn D. Lowry is the David Rockefeller Director; and the Whitney Museum, where Scott Rothkopf is the Alice Pratt Brown Director.The gift has financial as well as symbolic importance, since it helps cover compensation for the position. Directors are typically well-paid to attract and retain top talent.While Walker and Golden have had a long friendship, Golden noted that Ford has supported the Studio Museum since its founding. Walker “has been an inspiration to me and my work from the beginning of my career,” she said.Walker pointed out that other museums and foundation directors have close personal ties and that his friendship with Golden should not disadvantage the Studio Museum.“At the Ford Foundation we invest in excellence, and by any objective standard the Studio Museum punches above its weight and is worthy of this kind of gift,” Walker said. “It has earned the right to have an endowed directorship.” More

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      South Korea’s Modern Dance Scene is Thriving

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      Thanks to government support — and a collaborative spirit among dance companies — the medium is thriving across the country.While the high-octane choreography in K-pop videos has helped define South Korea’s image globally, in the country itself, it’s modern dance that’s in the spotlight. It is a huge part of the country’s arts scene, quietly flourishing and influencing new generations of dancers and choreographers.Its popularity and reach are evident throughout the country, especially among the dozens of companies, in Seoul and other cities, that share dancers, choreographers and designers. And several of those companies are making a name for themselves internationally, performing abroad and inviting major names to choreograph in South Korea.This year’s Seoul International Dance Festival in September was a testament to the country’s dominance in the medium, with companies from Canada, Australia, Europe and, of course, Korea performing over two weeks. And several performances coming up later this fall display the country’s growing visibility on the global dance stage.Some dancers from the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company, which bills itself as the only government-funded national contemporary dance company in Asia, are to perform “Shut Up Womb” (Nov. 15-17), a revival of the 2021 dance by the Japanese choreographer Shimojima Reisa, at the Seoul Arts Center right around the same time some of the company’s other dancers are to perform “Jungle” in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 16-20, as part of a program celebrating South Korean culture.“Jungle” debuted in October 2023 in Seoul, and then traveled to Austria, France, Italy and Kazakhstan this summer. It will return to South Korea in November 2025 in a program that will also include “One Flat Thing, reproduced,” a dance by the celebrated American choreographer William Forsythe.For Kim Sungyong, the new artistic director of the company, this international touring speaks to the success of dance in his home country, and to the access to a variety of well-trained dancers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Artist Sues Town for Canceling Residency Over Her Views on Gaza War

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      The American Civil Liberties Union has sued Vail, Colo., on behalf of a Native American artist who painted a work entitled “G is for Genocide.”The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has sued the town of Vail on behalf of a Native American artist, claiming it violated her First Amendment rights when it abruptly canceled an artist residency she had been offered after she posted to social media a painting about her views on the war in Gaza.The painting depicted a woman wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh and a feather, and it was entitled “G is for Genocide.” In March, the artist, Danielle SeeWalker, shared a photo of it on Instagram with the caption, “Some days, I have overwhelming grief + guilt for walking around privileged while people in Gaza are suffering for no reason.”Two month later, town officials told SeeWalker, 41, that her residency through Vail’s Art in Public Places program, which was scheduled to last 10 days in June while she completed a mural in the town, had been terminated because the painting had angered some in the local Jewish community, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court last week.The fallout from SeeWalker’s painting is the latest in a string of incidents involving criticism of Israel that have roiled the art world, raising questions over freedom of speech among artists, writers, museum employees, actors and others who oppose Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.The war started with Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people. Since then, Israeli military operations have killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, local health authorities say. Israel vehemently denies that its military has targeted civilians and claims Hamas fighters purposely hide among noncombatants.A spokeswoman for Vail, a town more than 90 miles west of Denver best known for its ski resorts, declined to comment about the lawsuit on Tuesday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A 50-Mile Art Road Trip Celebrates the Culture in Agriculture

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      It’s not every day that lifelong Wisconsin farmers take time out during the frenetic harvest season to do pirouettes and turns in their tractors like so many John Deere Baryshnikovs.“The Hay Rake Ballet” in an alfalfa field — set to opera music in front of a rapt crowd who oohed and aahed at every lift of the rakes used to move hay into rows — was a hit of the Farm/Art DTour, a 10-day, 50-mile self-guided driving tour of large-scale art installations and “pasture performances” along the pristine, hilly back roads of rural Sauk County, Wis.“The Hay Rake Ballet,” choreographed by Sarah Butler.Held every other October, the DTour draws more than 20,000 “D-Tourists” from Madison, Milwaukee and beyond. They come to soak up art in surprising contexts — a screaming pink abstract deer blind hoisted above a corn field, for instance, or a plucky dragon concealing a 250-foot-long irrigation system.“I think it’s neat that urban people get a kick out of what we see every day,” said Andy Enge, a dairy farmer and a star of the ballet, in which three tractors twirled around each other in a pas de trois.His 93-year-old father, Maurice, saw it differently. “If a man drove like that out in the hayfields, I’d fire them!” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Paris Is Rising as an Art Market Hub, With Some Way Left to Go

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      Sotheby’s opened a new salesroom and international collectors are arriving for the inaugural Art Basel Paris fair. But visiting is one thing; buying is another.“This is the Mona Lisa of handbags,” said Aurélie Vassy, Sotheby’s head of handbag and fashion sales in Europe, as she unlocked a glass display case and proudly revealed a battered black leather Birkin.“The first in the world, made for Jane Birkin. It’s the beginning,” said Vassy, pointing out the design features of the bag, specially made by Hermès for the Anglo-French singer and actress in 1984. Three years earlier, Birkin had found herself sitting next to the chief executive of the luxury brand on a flight from Paris to London and had sketched the design on the back of a sick bag.This precious fashion icon, on loan from the collection of the pre-owned luxury dealer Catherine B, was one of the star exhibits at the opening of Sotheby’s new salesroom in the Avenue Matignon district of Paris on Saturday. The auction house will hold Surrealism and modern art sales on Friday, just days after the inaugural edition of the Art Basel Paris fair begins in the newly renovated Grand Palais.Aurélie Vassy, Sotheby’s head of handbag and fashion sales in Europe, with the very first Birkin bag.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesThe Paris art scene is expanding. After Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union, a procession of international gallerists established spaces in the French capital, expecting its underperforming art market to revive at London’s expense.When Art Basel took over the management of Paris’s flagship October fair in 2022, this nurtured hope that the city’s art scene would become a magnet for international collectors. (It ran the fair for a couple of years from a temporary location under the ungainly name “Paris+ par Art Basel” before rebranding for this year’s edition.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Art Basel Returns, Larger, and More French, Than Ever

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      The fair will open in a freshly redone space with a new name. ‘In a way, it’s year zero,’ explained Art Basel’s chief executive.Art Basel Paris returns for its third edition with two big changes: It will be held for the first time in the newly renovated Grand Palais, and its name, formerly Paris+ by Art Basel, has been simplified and brought in line with the organization’s other art fairs.Open to the public Oct. 18-20, 195 galleries will display their wares, an increase of 27 percent from last year, since the Grand Palais can now accommodate more dealers than the former venue, the temporary Grand Palais Éphémère.A new section will debut, too: Premise, for focused presentations of older works that can include those made before 1900, the usual cutoff point for art to appear in the Art Basel fairs. Nine galleries will participate.“In a way, it’s year zero,” Noah Horowitz, the chief executive of Art Basel, said of the fair’s reset.Despite the larger number of exhibitors this year, Horowitz noted that it was still the smallest of the four Art Basel fairs (the others take place in Hong Kong, Miami Beach and Basel, Switzerland) and had the smallest booths. Space is still at a premium.“The selection process for Art Basel Paris was in many ways the most excruciating process I’ve ever borne witness to, only because of the extra amount of demand and the relative paucity of space,” Horowitz said. “There are incredible galleries, all very well deserving, that are not in the show.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lisa Nandy ‘absolutely determined’ to ensure access to arts for every child in UK

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorFind out moreLabour minister Lisa Nandy has said she is “absolutely determined” to ensure that access to the arts is a reality for every child in the UK. The secretary of state for culture, media, and sport spoke at an event in Westminster on Tuesday (8 October), as she announced the winner of the Robson Orr TenTen Award 2024. Grenada-born British artist Denzil Forrester was the recipient of the prize for his work, Altar, which depicts a scene from a reggae festival in Cornwall, where the artist lives and works. The 10-year scheme was launched in 2018 and was presented by the Government Art Collection. It is sponsored by leading philanthropists Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr. Nandy praised Forrester as she hailed his story as an example of the importance of getting “great art works out of the basement and into communities where they belong”. “We’re going to lead by example, with the Government Art Collection to make sure that people in every part of the country can see what it is,” she said. “But while talent is everywhere in our country, we are aware that opportunity is not. It is down to people like Sybil today that that is beginning to change, because not only do they support emerging artists, but they also work tirelessly to take us back into our schools and into our classrooms where they move it along to a whole new generation of young people.”Speaking about the impact of previous government rule, Nandy continued, “Over the last decade we have seen culture and creativity erased from our classrooms.”Nandy presented Denzil Forrester with the Robson Orr TenTen Award More

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      Welcome to Mike Kelley’s World: Beautiful, Ugly, Funny and Dumb

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      The American artist died in 2012, but a new exhibition in London shows how his deadpan-weirdo works continue to resonate today.Fantasy birdhouses, monkey islands, U.F.O. abductions, poltergeist possessions, hillbillies, rockers, goths, stuffed animals, graffitied history books and colorful banners with humorous phrases (most of which can’t be printed in this newspaper): The work of the Detroit-born multimedia artist Mike Kelley has something for everyone.At Tate Modern, in London, “Ghost and Spirit,” the first British retrospective of Kelley’s work (on through March 9, 2025,) shows how he mirrored America back to itself, like a twisted fun house maze filled with deranged, anarchic duplications.“My interest in popular forms wasn’t to glorify them, because I really dislike them in most cases,” he said of his work, which draws on references as varied as Pop Art, Roman Catholic ritual, folk traditions, mainstream television and tabloid newspapers. “All you can really do now,” he said, “is work with the dominant culture, flay it, rip it apart, reconfigure it.”Hung chronologically, Tate Modern’s extensive exhibition begins with Kelley’s time at the California Institute of the Arts, a school known for its experimental and political approaches, during the late 1970s. Early photographs, sculptures and works on paper show the artist, recently transplanted from Michigan, where he had been involved in the underground music scene, experimenting with concepts of identity and authorship in what would become a characteristic deadpan-weirdo style.The Tate Modern is the first British retrospective of Mike Kelley’s work.Lucy Green/TateA 1982 series called “Personality Crisis” has three large paintings of Kelley’s name in different fonts, stacked above each other like an adolescent doodling — sort of. The first variation is in looping cursive; variation two, in angular death metal font; and the third, subtitled “Death Trail of a Flea,” shows the artist’s signature, the ultimate stamp of authenticity, dissolved in an erratic curlicue trail — at once an insect’s dying gasp and a nod to the automatic writing of the Surrealists.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More