Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Martin Parr is opening a centre for photography in Bristol | The Martin Parr Foundation, established by Parr in 2014 to house his collection of primarily British and Irish photography as well as the artist’s own archive, is opening its doors to the public, it was announced today. The foundation’s new home in south-east Bristol will present an ongoing exhibitions programme, beginning in late October with a show of one of Parr’s photographic series, as well as talks and seminars, primarily focusing on documentary photography in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The space’s opening was funded in large part by the Tate’s recent acquisition (part-sale, part-gift) of some 12,000 photobooks from Parr’s personal collection.
Monaco’s justice minister resigns over art fraud case links | Monaco’s minister for justice Philippe Narmino has resigned (£, The Times) over allegations, published in French newspaper Le Monde (£, French language article), that he was recruited by Dmitry Rybolovlev to influence a billion-dollar art fraud case. Two years ago, Rybolovlev lodged a criminal complaint in Monaco, as well as France and Singapore, against Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, claiming that Bouvier sold him some 38 artworks for, at a total of $2 billion, as much as $1 billion more than their actual value. Text messages obtained by Le Monde, sent from the Russian’s lawyer to Narmino and other Monaco officials, appear to suggest that Bouvier was ‘lured’ to Monaco early in 2015, where he was arrested and subsequently released on bail. Bouvier denies all charges against.
Banksy donates auction sale proceeds to human rights and anti-arms trade groups | Street artist Banksy has donated £205,000, raised from the sale of a new artwork, to the non-profit groups Reprieve (a human rights organisation) and Campaign Against the Arms Trade. The work, titled Civilian Drone Strike, was auctioned alongside contributions by feminist activist group Guerrilla Girls and photomontage artist Peter Kennard, at the five-day Art The Arms Fair held last week in London in protest against the annual Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair.
Leading figures sign letter to save Newcastle-based organisation Locus+ | Over 500 key figures working in the arts have signed a letter of appeal from Locus+, a Newcastle-based art commissioning agency, to Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England, calling for the council to reconsider its June decision to cut all funding for the small but highly respected organisation. The plea was made public this weekend, the Guardian reports. The list of signees calling on Serota to save Locus+, or provide an explanation for the funding withdrawal, includes a number of Turner Prize winners – Mark Wallinger, Richard Wright, Douglas Gordon – and nominees, among many others.
Recommended reading | A statue in Bloomsbury Square of the 18th-century British statesman Charles James Fox prompts Tom Crewe to think about the UK’s public statuary in the latest issue of the London Review of Books. In the New Republic, Josephine Livingstone reviews Celeste Dupuy-Spencer’s solo show at New York’s Marlborough Contemporary Gallery, commending the exhibition’s ‘assertion that painting can be a kind of journalism, and can serve the same purpose.’ Finally, on the Paris Review’s blog, Kastalia Medrano explores the history, politics and art of space art.