Haus der Kunst names Andrea Lissoni as director

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Haus der Kunst names Andrea Lissoni as director | The Haus der Kunst in Munich has announced that Andrea Lissoni is to become its next director, from 1 April 2020. The role has been vacant since the resignation of Okwui Enwezor in June 2018. Lissoni, who is senior curator of international art (film) at Tate Modern, was selected by an international committee which included Daniel Birnbaum and Nicholas Serota.

Contemporary Istanbul chairman apologises for defending Turkish invasion of Syria | Ali Güreli, the chairman of the Contemporary Istanbul art fair, has issued an apology for a statement circulated by email earlier this month, in which he defended the Turkish invasion of northern Syria. ‘I was in no position to comment on Turkey’s political context […] and it was wrong for me to do so,’ Güreli says. Several prominent members of staff have resigned from their roles at the art fair since the email, including the artistic director, Anissa Touati, and the entire selection committee.

Pew Center awards more than $8.4m in grants | The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, a non-profit organisation based in Philadelphia, has announced more than $8.4m in annual grants, which will fund 12 Pew fellowships and 27 project grants for artists and organisations in the city. Projects that will receive funding this year include a solo exhibition of work by Polly Apfelbaum at Arcadia Exhibitions and new commissions at the William Way LGBT Community Center, honouring people from Philadelphia who died during the AIDS crisis.

Junya Ishigami wins inaugural Obel Prize for architecture | The Japanese architect Junya Ishigami is the first recipient of a new annual prize for architecture, funded by an endowment left by Danish businessman Henrik Frode Obel. Ishigami was awarded the prize, which comes with €100,000 and an artwork by Tomás Saraceno at a ceremony in Aalborg earlier today; he was selected by the jury for his Art Biotop Water Garden in Tochigi, Japan.