Is The Director Who Turned The Indianapolis Museum Of Art Into Newfields Democratizing It Or Destroying It?

“Critics have accused [Charles] Venable of dumbing down the museum with his crowd-pleasing, cost-conscious changes. But his program has also touched a nerve as institutions around the country confront a tough new calculus.” Andrew Russeth visits Newfields and does a deep dive on the changes there. – ARTnews

Artist Thrown Out Of Show For Right-Wing Views, And Controversy Nearly Causes Show’s Cancellation

“It has been a turbulent year for the Leipzig Annual Exhibition — so much so that the show was even cancelled at one point because of an outcry over the inclusion, then exclusion, of an artist who sympathises with the far-right party AfD … It eventually went ahead — six days later than scheduled, and without the artist, Axel Krause.” – The Art Newspaper

Despite Ongoing Criticism, British Museum Endorses BP As Sponsor

“Amid growing pressure for cultural institutions to cut ties with the controversial oil company, … [British Museum director Hartwig] Fischer said today that BP’s support for the museum over the years has helped ‘create unique learning opportunities’, such as the forthcoming exhibition Troy, Myth and Reality (21 November-8 March 2020). ‘This sort of support is vital to [the museum’s] mission,’ he said.” – The Art Newspaper

The Real Reason Hannah Rothschild Stepped Down As Chair Of London’s National Gallery

What her statement didn’t mention was an acrimonious dispute over the dismissals of 27 gallery lecturers and educators that has hung over the organisation for nearly two years, seen the intervention of numerous politicians, and was, say insiders, one of the reasons Rothschild stepped down “with sadness” two years before she was due to go. – The Observer

London’s Parliament Building Needs £4 Billion Of Repairs. A Temporary Home Is A Missed Opportunity

The recent unveiling of interim accommodation for 650 decanted MPs, who are to be shoehorned into Richmond House, the former Department of Health in Whitehall, for the anticipated eight-year duration of the palace’s patching up, might point the way, but has attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. – The Observer

Mapping Artists And Geography The Whitney Biennial Has Included Over The Decades

The New York area still supplies the lion’s share of participants. Los Angeles still runs a distant second. This year’s exhibition has no artists located in the Great Plains or Mountain West, and only three currently working in the South. For all of the country’s regional art scenes, artists who made the cut for the most prestigious American contemporary exhibition still work in many of the same places as they did decades ago. – The New York Times