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The Headlines
CONTROVERSIAL NEW GERMAN CULTURE MINISTER. Berlin’s culture senator, Joe Chialo, will become Germany’s Culture Minister in the country’s forthcoming, new government, reports Berliner Zeitung. Chialo, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, faced controversy for a proposed funding clause last year, requesting artists who receive public support to commit themselves against antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Additionally, he has come under fire for cultural cost-cutting measures. Indeed, “trust between Chialo and the Berlin cultural scene had been irretrievably destroyed,” reports the German publication, mainly in regards to “poor communication in the austerity debate.” The news follows a coalition deal in Germany’s centrist parties, which will allow conservative Friedrich Merz to be named chancellor, likely next month. Chialo will succeed Claudia Roth of the Greens Party. Meanwhile, Berlin’s non-partisan State Secretary for Culture, Sarah Wedl-Wilson is expected to temporary take up Chialo’s role, before elections are held for the position in 2026.
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THE HONG KONG MUSEUM OF ART (HKMOA) has taken over the organization of the city’s forthcoming Venice Biennale exhibition, replacing M+, a contemporary art museum in Hong Kong, reports the South China Morning Post. M+ has managed the city’s Venice pavilion since 2013. For the 2026 exhibition in Venice, multiple artists will be featured in a group presentation, selected from nominations that were sought out from the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The latter, whose members are appointed by the government, reportedly decided to replace M+ with HKMOA. Reasons for the change are not clear, but some reportedly see HKMOA as “more rooted” in Hong Kong art history. “I also anticipate that the exhibition can promote Chinese traditional culture and Hong Kong’s own special characters,” commented Frankie Yeung Wai-shing, the council’s vice-chairman. However, HKMOA museum director Maria Kar-wing Mok said traditional Chinese cultural projects were not required of pavilion proposals.
The Digest
Last week, a German court declared the influential, Berlin-based Peres Projects gallery insolvent. The gallery supported the careers of emerging artists, including Terence Koh and Dan Colen, and has outposts in Milan and Seoul. News of alleged financial problems were first reported by the German blog Verbraucherschutzforum in February. [Artnet News]
The BBC has reinstalled a sculpture that was vandalized in 2022, because its creator, Eric Gill, revealed in his diaries that he had sexually abused his daughters. The BBC said that by repairing and returning the sculpture, depicting Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, does not mean it condones “abusive behavior.” [The Guardian]
Visionary dealer Kiyoshi Tamenaga, who promoted a dialogue between Japanese and Western artists, has died at age 93, in his home in Tokyo. [The Art Newspaper, France]
For the first time, S&M images by Robert Mapplethorpe, which were privately held for decades, and never shown to the public until now, are on view in New York City, by the Kinsey Institute. [Observer]
The Kicker
ARTISTS AND FRIENDS. Medrie MacPhee and Nicole Eisenman delve into an engaging discussion about their practices, on the occasion of MacPhee’s exhibition, “The Repair”, at Tibor de Nagy Gallery until April 19 in New York City. In an account of their meeting by Elephant, the two mull over the “false binary of abstraction and figuration, regret and purpose in life’s last chapters.” Eisenman admits to what she calls “painticide,” or “instant painting death.” Even “worse: you’ve made something that looks like art, but you just feel like, “Nah,” responds MacPhee. We’ll leave the rest to you!