$70 million overhaul for the Met’s Rockefeller Wing

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

$70 million overhaul for the Met’s Rockefeller Wing | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is to renovate its galleries dedicated to the arts of Africa, Oceania and Americas, which are housed in the museum’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The project, which will start in late 2020 for completion in 2023, will be overseen by the architect Kulapat Yantrasast (of the firm wHY) and will cost $70 million. As reported in the New York Times, the Met is also pressing ahead with plans – on ice since 2017 – to redesign its modern and contemporary art galleries.

Easter Islanders to hold talks with British Museum | A delegation from Easter Island is visiting London this week to request the return of a moai statue that has been in the collection of the British Museum since 1869. The delegation from Rapa Nui (as the island is officially known) has the support of the Chilean government, while the British Museum has expressed its willingness to discuss any proposals. For an explanation of the significance of these statues to the Rapa Nui people, read this article by Mike Pitts.

Gavin Turk arrested at climate change protest | The British artist Gavin Turk was one of 82 protesters arrested on Saturday for their part in ‘mass civil disobedience’, as thousands occupied five bridges in central London as they called on governments to take greater action against climate change. Turk was held by police for a number of hours before being released later in the day.

National Trust has £30 million invested in fossil fuels | An investigation by the Guardian has found that the National Trust holds more than £30 million of investments in fossil fuel providers, managed indirectly through a portfolio fund. The British conservation organisation has previously pledged to decrease its own carbon emissions, noting in 2015 that ‘the impacts of climate change are already increasing’.

Recommended reading | In the Guardian, Oliver Wainwright asks whether the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, which hosted its first edition earlier this month, can help to arrest what he views as unabated and unregulated development in the city since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Frieze, Max Feldman reviews an exhibition curated by Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, finding that it ‘shows off the pair’s idiosyncratic tastes and Anderson’s typical fussiness’.