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It's been a week of architectural triumph and art-world turmoil... so let's start with good news. In a surprise announcement, the 2009 Pritzker Prize--the highest honor in international architecture--has been awarded to Peter Zumthor, a relatively obscure Swiss architect who is as well known for turning down commissions as he is for creating exquisite sculptural buildings from meticulously chosen materials. In another architecture development, David Adjaye, the Tanzanian-born architect of Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art among other high-profile projects, has been chosen to lead the $500 million construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Also, in a sweet turn of events (and a transparent play for tourism dollars), the house where Surrealist master Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Spain, is going to be turned into a museum.
Stateside, however, art institutions and galleries continue to feel the vice-like squeeze of the deepening recession (depression?). The Getty in Los Angeles, the richest museum in the United States, has announced plans to cut expenses by a full 25 percent in 2010. Having seen its endowment shrink by almost $1 billion since last year, the Met has said it will let go 10 percent of its employees by July. Hardest hit of all is the Detroit Institute of Arts, which plans to lay off 20 percent of its staff--less than two years after expanding and renovating its building. Other institutions, like the Philadelphia Art Museum, are canceling expensive touring exhibitions that had been long in the works.
Meanwhile, amid reports that art prices have tumbled 35 percent in this year's first quarter, heavyweight gallery Pace Wildenstein has announced a new round of job cuts following last November's layoffs, with remaining salaries trimmed by 10 to 16 percent. Even Gagosian--who is still hoping to spin art from gold--has frozen raises among his employees, and there may be job losses there as well (hopefully staffers paid heed to the megadealer's morale-boosting email last year). In other Gagosian news, the dealer and Richard Prince are fighting a lawsuit filed by French photographer Patrick Cariou, who alleges that the appropriation artist lifted his photographs of Rastafarians for the recent "Canal Zone" show at the gallery.
In other tales from the courthouse, the heirs of German artist George Grosz are suing MoMA for the return of three artworks they say were looted by the Nazis. Shepard Fairey's ongoing trial in Boston hit a new hurdle when the judge dropped seven of the 17 vandalism charges lodged against the graffiti artist--only to add ten new charges. Finally, Michael Jackson filed a lawsuit blocking the wholesale auction of the contents of his Neverland ranch--at least temporarily foiling collectors who have been eying the deposed King of Pop's awesome Elizabethan-style portraits. T.S. Eliot was right: April really is a bastard.
"Pritzker Prize Goes to Peter Zumthor" [via the New York Times]
"Architects Chosen for Black History Museum" [via the New York Times]
"Dalí’s Birth House to Become a Museum" [via Artinfo]
"Troubles deepen for museums: layoffs, budget cuts and cancelled shows" [via the Art Newspaper]
"Detroit museum rethinks art after 6-year renovation, expansion" [via USA Today]]
"Pay Cuts and Layoffs Announced at Pace, Gagosian" [via Art in America]
"Layoffs at Pace Wildenstein" [via Artinfo]
"John Waters' art coming to (gold-free) Gagosian Gallery" [via the Los Angeles
Times' Culture Monster blog]
"Richard Prince and Gagosian fight back over copyright" [via the Art Newspaper]
"MoMA Sued Over German Works" [via the New York Times]
"Obama 'Hope' artist sees new Boston charges" [via the Associated Press]
"Michael Jackson Auction Is Canceled" [via the Wall Street Journal]
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