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The artist is now represented by Pace, along with three other galleries. Plus, NYC has a new culture commissioner, closures at art schools, and more industry news.
Art Movements, published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.
Anicka Yi’s Collecting Galleries
Seems like the South Korea-born, New York-based artist isn’t just collecting scents, bacteria, and other assorted oddities for her art practice — she’s also collecting galleries. She is now represented by Pace, in collaboration with Gladstone Gallery, 47 Canal, and Esther Schipper.
NYC’s New Culture Commissioner
Diya Vij, who was part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, is now part of his actual team. Previously VP of curatorial and arts programs at the Brooklyn nonprofit Powerhouse Arts, she was tapped as NYC’s new culture commissioner.
Read our feature
Art Schools Suffer Closures
The School of Visual Arts in New York is shuttering its 14-year-old curatorial practice MA program in May 2027. This comes after ongoing financial challenges, and the layoff of 30 faculty members over the summer. And the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago is planning to shut its campus art museum on June 30, to the outrage of faculty and staff.
New Lows at the High Museum
Brady Lum, the chief operating officer of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, has resigned after the museum found $600,000 missing from its budget. He joined the museum in 2019, after stints at the Olympics and Coca-Cola, and was placed on administrative leave in December, though it’s unclear when the institution learned of his involvement in the theft.
Read more on Hyperallergic
Transitions
- Austen Barron Bailly was promoted to deputy director of curatorial affairs at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
- Charles Chemin was named artistic director of the Watermill Center.
- Nicholas R. Bell was appointed director and CEO of Royal Ontario Museum, departing from his role as president and CEO of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada.
- Kreshaun McKinney was named inaugural director of Civic Engagement and Community Programs at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, departing his position as director of Learning and Engagement at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in the same city.
- More musical chairs in Paris: Catherine Pégard, formerly the president of Château de Versailles, will replace Rachida Dati as France’s Culture Minister, after the latter announced her run for Paris mayor.
- Julia Siemon was named deputy director of the Bard Graduate Center in New York City.
- Dariusz Stola was reappointed director of Poland’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, seven years after being ousted by the previous nationalist government.
- Emmi Whitehorse is now represented by White Cube in collaboration with Garth Greenan Gallery.
- Swivel Gallery is … swiveling. Founder Graham Wilson will become Marc Straus Gallery’s first partner as the two merge.
Awards
- Hank Willis Thomas is the inaugural winner of the Liu Shiming Legacy Award.
- Han Ishu and yang02 received the sixth Tokyo Contemporary Art Award from Tokyo Arts and Space.
- The visual arts recipients of 2026 Grants to Artist from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York City are: Teresa Baker, Nanette Carter, Christopher Cozier, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Janet Olivia Henry, Nyeema Morgan, Elle Pérez, and Shirley Tse.
Wildcard
Okay, here’s the full timeline for the ill-fated Centre Pompidou in Jersey: Back in 2021, Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, announced that the French museum would be opening its first North American satellite museum in the city. That dream ended in 2024, when New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority issued a statement that it would no longer fund the museum. Then, Jersey City planned to build a 100,000-square-foot Trumpian new property — fittingly backed by the Kushner Real Estate Group (Jared’s uncle) — part of which was slated to house the museum. Now, that allotted space will be turned into affordable housing, with the possibility of community space as well. Whatever it takes to bring affordable housing to the NYC metropolitan area, I guess.
