South Korea’s ex-culture minister jailed over artist blacklist

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

South Korea’s ex-culture minister jailed over artist blacklist | Former Korean culture minister Cho Yoon-sun was yesterday found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to two years in prison for involvement in the running of a government-sponsored artist blacklist intended to block targeted artists from receiving state support. The list was made up of nearly 10,000 artists, including Oldboy director Park Chan-wook and novelist Han Kang, deemed ‘unfriendly’ towards the country’s ex-president Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in March 2017. Cho had previously been acquitted of complicity in operating the blacklist and was handed a suspended sentence on a perjury charge prior to the appeals court’s review of her case.

Simon Baker appointed director of the Maison Européene de la Photographie | Simon Baker, chief curator of photography at Tate, has been appointed director of the Maison Européene de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris (French-language article). He will succeed Jean-Luc Monterosso, who has been director of the institution since it was founded in 1996. Tate appointed Baker as its very first curator of photography in 2009. During his time at the museum Baker has built up its collection of post-war art photography, and followed a particular interest in Japanese photographers. He curated exhibitions including ‘William Klein/Daido Moriyama’ and ‘Performing for the Camera’.

LACMA plans to open satellites in South LA | The New York Times reports that Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is planning to expand from its current campus in mid-Wilshire (in central LA) with new satellite campuses in South LA. The aim of the expansion is to reach the county’s ‘underserved’ populations living in its less affluent areas. The city council will vote on Friday on whether to approve a 35-year lease on a building in South Los Angeles Wetlands Park, while the museum’s director Michael Govan has said he is in ‘very serious discussions’ about a potential second site.

Westminster rejects revised plans for Margaret Thatcher statue | Westminster Council has unanimously rejected a proposal, revised after an initial bid was turned down over vandalism concerns in July, to install a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square, the Guardian reports. The revised design would have seen the statue equipped with protective measures including a climb-proof four-metre-high plinth. Several reasons were given for the decision, including the risk of ‘monument saturation’ throughout Westminster.

Brian O’Doherty to receive Freedom of Roscommon | The Freedom of Roscommon is to be awarded to Irish-born artist and writer Brian O’Doherty, it was decided on Monday. O’Doherty, who was born in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon, has lived in New York for the past fifty years. This year O’Doherty will be the subject of an exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, staged to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Patrick Ireland, the alias O’Doherty adopted in 1972, who was symbolically buried in a performance in 2008 as a way of marking peace in Northern Ireland.