International news in brief — June 2010

Photographer files copyright suits in Virginia, Public Art Fund revives figurative sculpture in New York, Pre-Columbian works returned to El Salvador, and more

By The Art Newspaper | Web only
Published online 9 Jun 10 (News)

Photographer Anne Pearse-Hocker says Firelight Media's recent documentary "We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee" used her photos without permission. Above, the film's signature photo, by Native American photographer Bob Charlo

Photographer files copyright suits

Photographer Anne Pearse-Hocker is suing Firelight Media in an Alexandria, Virginia district court for $450,000 for copyright infringement, claiming that their 2008 documentary “We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee” used photographs she took of the 1973 siege without her permission and without crediting her. The documentary was aired on PBS and is available for purchase through the broadcaster's website and from online booksellers including Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Borders, according to court documents. Pearse-Hocker said she spent two weeks as a photojournalist at Wounded Knee during the violent 1973 standoff between followers of the American Indian Movement and United States Marshals. She claims that she gave the photographs to the National Museum of the American Indian in 1996, but that she retained ownership of the copyright. She said that while Firelight asked the Smithsonian for permission to use the photographs, she was never contacted. Pearse-Hocker is also filing a copyright claim against the Smithsonian for allowing Firelight to use her work. K.A.

Public Art Fund’s new director revives figurative sculpture

The Public Art Fund is installing ten large-scale figurative works by contemporary artists in City Hall Park, New York, for the exhibition “Statuesque” opened 2 June (until 3 December). Director and chief curator of the organisation, Nicholas Baume, says he plans to install some of the works in the middle of pathways so the sculptures are “in your face” and has received special permission from city hall to remove chains from grassy areas so the public can have more direct interaction with each work. Baume says the exhibition reflects a “renewed energy around figurative sculpture” and the show includes works by internationally recognised artists such as Pawel Althamer, Huma Bhabha, Aaron Curry, Thomas Houseago, Matthew Monahan, and Rebecca Warren. All the sculptures are being shown in New York for the first time and some were finished just before the exhibition, for example Monahan has created his first bronze for the show. H.S.

Pre-Columbian works returned to El Salvador following sting operation

A cache of pre-Columbian and Mayan artefacts were returned to El Salvador last month following the break up of an international smuggling ring that was selling the antiquities online. The investigation, headed jointly by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and El Salvador’s National Civilian Police, started three years ago when a customs agent in Miami noticed what appeared to be pre-Columbian artefacts being shipped through the mail into Alabama. Officials in El Salvador eventually arrested and prosecuted a husband and wife team who were advertising the objects on websites such as eBay and selling them to collectors worldwide. The investigation is still ongoing in the US, but the antiquities were seized under a Memorandum of Understanding restricting the export of cultural property, in place since 1995 and renewed for two more years this March. H.S.

Russia’s “best hope for contemporary art” accused of rape

An acclaimed young Russian artist, Ilya Trushevsky, was arrested on 2 May and charged with raping a 17-year-old girl in his Moscow apartment, Russian media reported. In 2003 the 26-year-old installation artist moved to Moscow from his native St Petersburg, and last year he was nominated for Best Young Artist of the Year at the Innovation Awards, a state prize for contemporary art. He didn’t win, but critics named him “the best hope for Russian contemporary art”. The artist is currently out of prison on bail. On 15 May he opened his exhibition “Sweet” at the Incubator gallery at Moscow’s Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre. Trushevsky’s case has been a hot topic of discussion in Russian art blogs, with writers either demonising him or trying to exonerate his actions. J.V.

Long-awaited new wing for Rome’s Macro museum opens

The Maxxi museum of 21st-century art and architecture, which opened in Rome last month 13 years after it was first mooted, has a rival. The Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (Macro) held a “soft opening” at the end of May of its long-awaited new 10,000 sq. m wing—designed by French architect Odile Decq—with the official launch scheduled to take place later this year. Works by Spanish practitioner Jorge Peris, Arte Povera artist Gilberto Zorio and Alfredo Pirri of Italy are on show in the new building, which was originally scheduled to open in 2006. The city council provided €15m funding for the extension, which includes a gallery dedicated to video art and a 2,500 sq. m roof terrace. An underground storage facility also forms part of the complex at the municipal museum, which was inaugurated in 1999 on the site of a turn-of-the-century industrial complex. F.R.M. and G.H.

Most visitors to Berlin’s museums are tourists

As the Berlin agency for marketing and tourism reports, more than 3/4 of the visitors to Berlin Museums in 2009 were tourists. Further, the report states that while Dutch, American and English tourists hit the city’s museums Swiss, Danish and Austrian visitors are especially interested in the capital’s theatres. According to the agency’s research, 76,2% of all museum visitors came from outside Berlin and 33,7% visitor from abroad. In the Jüdische Museum 89,9% of all visitors were tourists, followed by Schloss Charlottenburg, which counted 85,7% of tourists. Next to the artworks on display in the museums, the foreign visitors were especially content with the institution’s good service— more than the Berliner’s are themselves. J.v.P.

Female primary school teachers: Denmark’s typical museum visitors

The Heritage Agency of Denmark has produced its first survey of the country’s museum-goers. The average visitor is described as female, 55, living in the capital and a primary school teacher. The most atypical is 22 years old, living in Northern Jylland and working as a bricklayer. A selection of visitors to all 124 state-run and state-approved museums were interviewed for the survey, which also highlighted a general satisfaction, with museums on average receiving 8.2 points out of a possible ten. Those between the ages of 14 and 29 are under-represented as museum visitors compared with their share in the Danish population. “The report can increase the quality of discussions about the future of museums,” said Ole Winther, head of the Heritage Agency’s museums section. C.B.

Finnish Fund for Art Exchange to close down

The Finnish Fund for Art Exchange (Frame), established in 1992, is to be dissolved by the end of June, with a new organisation replacing it. “It has become clear that the set up is no longer optimal,” said Anna-Maija Marttinen, head of the cultural export and exchange unit at the culture ministry, which funds Frame. “We are now looking at how to organise the promotion of Finnish visual art in the best possible way in the future.” Frame is governed by the board of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. “It is also obvious that organisations today prefer small administrative bodies. A board with 12 people ruling a relatively small organisation was too much,” said Marttinen. The ministry has asked the public to make suggestions on how to support the promotion of Finnish art in the future, and more than 100 ideas have been sent in so far. In the last two months Frame had been hit by a reduction of staff—currently only the director, Marketta Seppälä, is still in position, with former employees complaining about her leadership style. Seppälä could not be reached for comment. C.B.