Art Outlook

Some of the news and comment we’ve spotted online this week

Fears for Palmyra as ISIS closes in

The ancient ruins of Palmyra are believed to be under threat, after Islamic State militants seized the neighbouring town of Tadmur in Syria. Palmyra, which dates from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, is considered to be one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world. ISIS fighters have already destroyed major heritage sites in northern Iraq: the very real fear now is that they will do so again.

Anne Pasternak takes over at the Brooklyn Museum

Pasternak has no direct experience of managing a museum, but her successful leadership of the arts organisation Creative Time bodes well for Brooklyn. She takes over New York’s second largest art museum from Arnold L. Lehman on 1 September, as the institution’s first female director.

Legal battle over Peggy Guggenheim’s collection

Relatives of Peggy Guggenheim have launched a court appeal in Paris over the alleged mismanagement of her art collection. The plaintiffs – led by one of her grandsons, Sandro Rumney – argue that the Guggenheim Foundation has gone against the terms of her legacy by not showing the collection in full, and mixing it with works from other bequests.

Tania Bruguera to stage performance at home in Cuba

The activist performance artist Tania Bruguera has launched her first art project since falling foul of the Cuban authorities last year. She was arrested in December after planning a performance piece in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución that highlighted the limitations of free speech. While she waits to hear whether charges have been brought against her, she’ll be reading from Hannah Arendt’s 1951 book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, as part of the new work.

Jay Z and Marina Abramović have a very public spat

It’s all ended in tears. When Abramović famously allowed Jay Z to adapt her performance piece The Artist is Presence for a music video in 2013, she was expecting a sizeable donation to her art institute in return. This week, she complained that the money had never arrived. Jay Z insisted it had. Confusion ensued.

Lead image: used under Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 2.0)