Week in Review: Looted Artifacts Returned to Iraq; NYC Mandates Vaccines at Performances

Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world. Subscribe to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.

New York City

You will soon need your vaccine card to access

New York City’s indoor performance venues as well as dining and fitness facilities.

A fourth suicide occurred at the controversial Vessel in Hudson Yards.

Queer History

Learn about Gerda Wegener, an early 20th-century artist whose works

ranged from glamorous portraits of her partner to graphic illustrations of sex that celebrate women’s pleasure.

Published from the 1950s through the 1970s, lesbian pulp fiction covers are colorful, kitschy, and anachronistic insights into queer history.

In Other News

India’s creative community became a beacon of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US restituted 17,000 looted artifacts to Iraq including the “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet,” a 3,500-year-old clay cuneiform that was acquired by the arts and crafts chain store Hobby Lobby in 2014.

In Brazil, a fire engulfed a warehouse of South America’s largest film collection belonging to São Paulo’s Cinemateca Brasileira.

Artist Matteo Rattini trained a neural network to create images of contemporary sculptures based on Instagram’s algorithm suggestions as a commentary on social media’s influence on art.

Two rediscovered Fragonard paintings were acquired by France.

Awards & Accolades

• Abbas Zahedi, Barby Asante, Beverley Bennett, Blak Outside, Ferarts Collective, Jacob V. Joyce, Nawi Collective, Other Cinema, Resolve Collective, and Skin Deep are recipients of the Support Structures for Support Structures program by Serpentine.

Transitions

• Jules de Balincourt is now represented by Pace Gallery.
• Linde B. Lehtinen was named curator of photography of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
• The National Academy of Design has named Sara Reisman as chief curator and director of national academician affairs, Adrienne Elise Tarver as director of programming, and Thomas E. Moore, III as director of development.
• Shanta Thake was named chief artistic officer of Lincoln Center.
• Constance Vale was appointed chair of undergraduate architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

In Memoriam

• Louise Fishman (1939–2021), Abstract Expressionist | Antelope Valley Press
• Kelli Hand (1965 –2021), Detroit house and techno DJ | Guardian
• Paul Johnson (1971 –2021), Chicago house music DJ | Rolling Stone
• Patricia Kennealy-Morrison (1946–2021), rock music journalist | New York Times
• Willie Winfield (1929–2021), doo-wop singer | New York Times