Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Getty postpones all public events until after end of August | The Getty Trust has announced that public programming will not resume at either the Getty Center or the Getty Villa until after 31 August. Both sites were closed until further notice on 14 March due to Covid-19.
Christie’s to pay $16.7m fine for uncollected tax in New York | The office of the Manhattan district attorney announced last Thursday (9 April) that Christie’s will pay a fine of $16.7m, having failed to correctly collect sales tax in New York between July 2013 and January 2017. The fine relates to private sales worth $189m, made by offices in other locations but delivered to clients in New York. A spokesperson for the auction house said that, since 2017, the company has ‘reviewed its advice and internal processes to ensure compliance with relevant tax law. This settlement agreement brings the matter to full resolution.’
Charleston farmhouse launches emergency crowdfunding appeal | Charleston farmhouse in East Sussex, formerly the home of Bloomsbury group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, has launched an appeal for emergency funding of £400,000 to offset the financial impact of Covid-19. Since it opened as a public museum since 1980, Charleston has been managed by an independent trust, with no public funding and no endowment.
New York court rules that Call of Duty video game is art | A judge in New York has ruled that the video game Call of Duty can be classified as ‘art’, and is therefore protected under the First Amendment from legal action brought against its makers, Activision, by the military vehicle company Humvee over its use of their brand. District Judge George B. Daniels stated in his ruling that ‘If realism is an artistic goal, then the presence in modern warfare games of vehicles employed by actual militaries undoubtedly furthers that goal.’