Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Bettina Korek named chief executive of Serpentine Galleries | Bettina Korek has been named as the next chief executive of the Serpentine Galleries in London. Korek is currently executive director of Frieze Los Angeles, and will join the Serpentine in March, the month after the second edition of the fair in LA is scheduled to take place. She has previously worked on gallery programming for the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative and for LACMA’s prints and drawings department. Korek replaces Yana Peel, who stepped down from the role in June.
Charles Saumarez Smith leaves post at Blain Southern | Charles Saumarez Smith has confirmed that he has stepped down as senior director of Blain Southern gallery. Saumarez Smith, former chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, joined the gallery just under a year ago – and will continue to be involved with some of its projects. This follows recent news that Blain Southern’s co-founder Graham Southern and director of exhibitions Craig Burnett have both departed from the gallery in what Harry Blain, who is still director, says is ‘a period of restructuring’.
Catherine Opie to chair UCLA’s art department in newly endowed position | The photographer Catherine Opie has been announced as the first endowed chair of the art department at UCLA. The position has been newly endowed thanks to a $2m gift from patrons Lynda and Stewart Resnick, which will also help the university invite guest lecturers and provide health insurance for full-time adjunct professors. An additional $500,000 from the Resnicks will go towards a renovated photography lab for undergraduates.
National Museum of the Resistance to be built in Milan | Dario Franceschini, the Italian culture minister, has announced a budget of €17.5m for a new National Museum of the Resistance, which it plans to build in Milan’s Piazza Baiamonti. The funds were signed off on Monday, green-lighting a project that has been in the works for several years. The museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, will explore the history of anti-fascist resistance fighters in Italy during the second world war.