Ralph Rugoff to curate 2019 Venice Biennale

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Ralph Rugoff to curate 2019 Venice Biennale | The director of the Hayward Gallery, Ralph Rugoff, is to curate the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale. Rugoff, who joined the Hayward from San Francisco’s CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in 2006, has worked widely as an independent critic and curator, and was the Artistic Director of the 13th Biennale de Lyon in 2015. He will continue to lead the Hayward, which reopens in January, while curating the Biennale.

Minneapolis Institute of Art to set up ‘Center for Empathy and the Visual Arts’ | The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) has received a $750,000 grant from the A.W. Mellon Foundation, which will go towards a ‘Center for Empathy and the Visual Arts’. The initiative, which will conduct research into how the arts can make people more compassionate, is the first programme of its kind in a museum. The MIA has also received a $520,000 grant from the Ford Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, in support of its Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) initiative.

Metropolitan Police revives Art and Antiques unit | London’s Metropolitan Police has reformed its Art and Antiques Unit, which was temporarily disbanded following the fire at Grenfell Tower earlier this year. Detective sergeant Rob Upham has been named as the unit’s new supervisor, joining two other detective constables; a third is expected to be appointed in the coming months. The unit’s temporary closure in August sparked fears that it could be permanently disbanded due to budgetary constraints.

Grayson Perry to chair RA Summer Exhibition | Grayson Perry is to co-ordinate the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in 2018, which has the title of ‘Art Made Now’. 2018 is a particularly significant year for the Academy, which will celebrate its 250th anniversary with an ambitious programme of events, including a display based on the history of the Summer Exhibition itself. Perry, who became a Royal Academician in 2011, says he will use his role as co-ordinator to ‘champion the democracy of the exhibition’.

Alison Cole appointed editor of the Art Newspaper | Critic and art consultant Alison Cole will take over as the new editor of the Art Newspaper on 1 February 2018. Cole, who is a former editor of Arts Quarterly, is the author of a number of books, and is a contributor to the Independent and the Arts Desk. She has also worked in communications at Arts Council England, the Art Fund, and the Southbank Centre.

Injunction against sale of Berkshire Museum items extended | The Berkshire Eagle reports that the injunction against the sale of works from the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts has been extended until 29 January. Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, which requested the extension on the injunction, argued that it needs the extension to complete its review of the sale at Sotheby’s.

Recommended reading | In the Art Newspaper, Norman Rosenthal pays tribute to the curator Christos Joachimides (1932–2017), who died earlier this week. Joachimides, along with Rosenthal and Nicholas Serota curated the Royal Academy’s highly influential exhibition ‘New Spirit in Painting’ in 1981. In the New York Times, John Schwartz and Guilbert Gates explain how Richard Meier’s design for the Getty Center helped it weather the fires that engulfed surrounding areas of Los Angeles last week. In the Guardian, Oliver Wainwright gets a first look at the new US Embassy in Nine Elms, London.