Jerwood Gallery to relaunch as Hastings Contemporary

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Jerwood Gallery to relaunch as Hastings Contemporary | The Jerwood Gallery is relaunching under the new name Hastings Contemporary, it was announced today. This follows the Jerwood Foundation’s decision to withdraw its funding and collection of some 300 works of modern and contemporary British artworks from the gallery, which opened in 2012. The gallery has been an independent charity since 2017, when it received a four-year £400,000 grant from the Arts Council; the relaunch is supported by a £250,000 gift from an anonymous donor. Hastings Contemporary will open on 6 July in the same building as before, which continues to be leased by the Jerwood Foundation, with exhibitions by the painters Tal R and Roy Oxlade, and a display of drawings by Quentin Blake.

Italy agrees to repatriate 796 cultural artefacts to China | The Italian government agreed to return 796 cultural artefacts to China on Friday, a diplomatic gesture intended to help with the strengthening of China and Italy’s political ties, according to South China Morning Post. The agreement was one of 29 signed during Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to Rome, and bears the signatures of culture ministers Alberto Bonisoli and Luo Shugang. The objects, which include Song dynasty porcelain and a Majiayao red clay pot, were illegally exported to Italy; the Court of Milan ordered their return in November.

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council announces arts centre on Governors Island arts | The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has announced that it will open a 40,000–square–foot space named the Arts Center on Governors Island, New York in September. The centre will be located in a renovated warehouse and military office dating from the 1870s, and it will be used to house public programmes and exhibitions for visitors as well as residencies and affordable studio space for artists.

Lead image: used under Creative Commons licence (CC BY 2.0; original image cropped)