Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Lambeth Council votes to demolish Arup’s Vauxhall bus station | Lambeth Council has approved plans for a new development that would mean demolishing a landmark bus station in Vauxhall, south London. the Architects’ Journal reports that plans to redevelop the area would see the existing Vauxhall gyratory and its Arup-designed bus station demolished to make way for a two-way road system and new multi-storey structures. The bus station, a major local transport hub, would be replaced by a smaller one. Local critics, such as the campaigner George Turner, has described the council’s decision as an ‘astounding mismanagement of public resources’.
Winnipeg Art Gallery receives $10m to establish centre for Inuit art | The municipal government of Manitoba has pledged $10m in support for what will become a major new centre for Inuit art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. When complete, it will house one of the largest public collections of Inuit art, incorporating several exhibition spaces, a conservation facility, a theatre and classrooms. The WAG has so far raised $50m of the $65m needed for the project.
Scotland cuts cultural collections budget | The Scottish government is to cut its cultural collections budget by 5 per cent next year, reducing funding from £77m to £73.4m. According to the Museums’ Association, 2018–19 will be the third consecutive year in which the allocation has been cut. As reported earlier this week, overall culture funding in Scotland has been increased, partly to offset a drop in lottery revenues.
Chuck Close responds to sexual harassment allegations | Chuck Close has responded to accusations of inappropriately sexual behaviour that emerged this week. As reported yesterday, several women who posed for him allege that Close made explicit remarks and inappropriate requests. Last time I looked, discomfort was not a major offence,’ Close told the New York Times. ‘I never reduced anyone to tears, no one ever ran out of the place. If I embarrassed anyone or made them feel uncomfortable, I am truly sorry, I didn’t mean to. I acknowledge having a dirty mouth, but we’re all adults.’
Recommended reading | In Le Monde (French language article), Sandrine Blanchard looks at the first of several auctions of manuscripts owned by the investment firm Aristophil that took place on Wednesday. In the New York Times, Max Fisher looks at a revised version of a controversial study into the Syrian Civil War that was published by the United States Holocaust Museum earlier this year. In the Morning Star, Jonathan Meades reviews Douglas Murphy’s Nincompoopopolis and looks back at the ‘aesthetic blindness’ of former London mayor Boris Johnson’s architectural legacy.
Art New Daily will return on 2nd January 2018.