Met president condemns US withdrawal from UNESCO

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Met president condemns US withdrawal from UNESCO | Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of The Met, has issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from UNESCO by 2018. ‘One of our most important responsibilities as museum leaders is to protect cultural heritage and promote international education’, he writes. ‘President Trump’s decision to withdraw from UNESCO undermines the historic role of the United States as a leader in this effort and weakens our position as a strong advocate for cultural preservation […]’.

Eli Broad to retire from public life | The New York Times reports that philanthropist and collector Eli Broad is ‘stepping down from public life’, announcing that it is ‘time to move on’. Broad has been instrumental in shaping the cultural resurgence of Los Angeles, a process that culminated in the opening of the Broad Museum in 2015.

Kader Attia to receive 2017 Joan Miró prize | French-Algerian artist Kader Attia has been named as the winner of the biennial Joan Miró prize. The $82,000 award recognises artists whose work bears a thematic resemblance to that of the late Catalan master. The judges of the prize say that Attia’s work addressing post-colonialism ‘resonates with Miró’s universal aspirations’.

Alyson Baker steps down as director of Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum | Alyson Baker, director of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, has announced that she is to step down after six years. Baker has presided over a period in which the museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, as well as overseeing exhibition, education, and rebranding programmes.

Recommended reading | In the Guardian, New Yorker cartoonist Chris Ware talks to Chris Thielman about work, relationships, and Charles Schultz’s Peanuts strip. On ArtNet, Kenny Schachter discusses Frieze week and decides that wishes he’d saved his energy for FIAC. In Artforum, meanwhile, Mathieu Malouf takes a proper look at Michel Houellebecq, comparing him to Broodthaers, and possibly reading too much into his photographs.