Judge upholds decision in 5Pointz case

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Judge upholds decision in 5Pointz case | A New York judge has upheld his decision to award $6.7 million against Gerald Wolkoff, the developer who whitewashed the 5Pointz building in Brooklyn. Following the trial, which concluded in February, Wolkoff submitted a motion to have the judgement vacated or a new trial granted. The new decision issued yesterday denies this motion, partly on the basis that ‘the case has generated a considerable amount of public interest and is bound for the circuit court of appeals’. See Nicholas O’Donnell’s take in Apollo on the legal significance of the 5Pointz case here.

Freelands Award shortlist announced | The Freelands Foundation has announced its shortlist for this year’s Freelands Award. The £100,000 award, which goes to a UK institution outside of London to support projects that will raise the profile of a mid-career female artist, is now in its third year. The six shortlisted institutions are BALTIC in Gateshead, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, Metropolitan Arts Center in Belfast, Spike Island in Bristol and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The winner and chosen artist will be announced this autumn. The foundation has also released its annual report on the representation of female artists in Britain. The study found that in 2017 women accounted for just 28 per cent of the artists represented by London’s major commercial galleries, while just over a fifth of institutional solo exhibitions are devoted to female artists. 

Soyoung Lee named chief curator at Harvard Art Museums | Harvard Art Museums have announced the appointment of new chief curator Soyoung Lee. Lee comes to Harvard following fifteen years in the curatorial team in the department of Asian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she most recently curated the exhibition ‘Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art’. 

Recommended reading | In The Art Newspaper, Melanie Gerlis looks at how the sharing economy is affecting attitudes towards art collecting among millennials. Meanwhile, in the New York Times a candid roundtable discussion featuring gallery owners Paula Cooper, Elyse Derosia, Bridget Donahue and Sean Kelly addresses the perennial question: is the art world too big for its own good?