Man arrested after trying to steal the Magna Carta

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Man arrested after trying to steal the Magna Carta | Police have arrested a man after he attempted to steal the Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral, the BBC reports. Alarms were set off at around 4.45 pm yesterday (25 October) after the man tried to smash the glass box in which the charter is displayed with a hammer. Police have stated that the document, which is considered to be the best preserved of four surviving copies of the original Magna Carta, has not been damaged.

Mary Corse artwork damaged by fire at Dia:Beacon | An artwork by the American artist Mary Corse has been damaged by a fire at Dia:Beacon in New York, the Art Newspaper reports. The fire has been traced to a power source that was connected to a work by Corse, who is known for the use of electrical equipment in her ‘light paintings’. A spokesperson for Dia has suggested that an electrical element overheated. The museum has not yet released its assessment of the extent of the damage.

Hito Steyerl wins 2019 Käthe Kollwitz Prize | The Akademie der Künste in Berlin has announced that Hito Steyerl will receive the 2019 Käthe Kollwitz Prize. The $13,600 prize is awarded to international multimedia artists who are resident in Germany. Previous winners include Adrian Piper and Mona Hatoum.

Recommended reading | In the Art Newspaper, Anny Shaw reports on the latest developments in an investigation by an international consortium of journalists into the finances of the Sackler family. And in Artnet News, Sarah Cascone considers the mysterious news that has emerged from Wakefield, Massachusetts, where a painting of Jesus was astonishingly spared by a blaze that destroyed the town’s historic First Baptist Church earlier this week.