Design Museum criticised for hosting event linked to arms industry

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Design Museum criticised for hosting event linked to arms industry | A group of artists and designers, along with several supporters, have signed a letter criticising the Design Museum in London for hosting a private event connected to the Farnborough International arms fair last Tuesday. In the letter published by CAAT (Campaign Against Arms Trade) the signatories – many of them exhibitors in the current ‘Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008–2018’ show at the museum – state that ‘it is deeply hypocritical for the museum to display and celebrate the work of radical anti-corporate artists and activists, while quietly supporting and profiting from one of the most destructive and deadly industries in the world’. They also request that the work in question be taken down by 1 August. The museum provided a response to the Guardian, emphasising that it gave ‘no endorsement’ to the event, run by the Italian aerospace and defence company Leonardo, but that it is now reviewing its policies.

BRIC appoints Kristina Newman-Scott to presidency | The Brooklyn arts organisation BRIC has announced that Kristina Newman-Scott has been appointed as its new president. Newman-Scott, an artist and curator currently serving as director of culture for the state of Connecticut, will take up her new role at the organisation in time for its 40th anniversary this September.

Warhol Foundation urges University of Kansas to reinstate artwork | In a letter to the University of Kansas, Joel Wachs, president of the Warhol Foundation, has called on officials to return Josephine Meckseper’s flag artwork Untitled (Flag 2) (2017) to its original outdoors location. Following criticism from state politicians who described the work as desecration of the American flag, officials at the university moved it indoors a fortnight ago, citing ‘safety concerns’.