New centre for technology and digital preservation of culture in Venice is launched

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

New centre for technology and digital preservation of culture in Venice is launched | The Fondazione Cini, Factum Foundation and DHLab of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are joining to launch ARCHiVe – Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Venice, a centre for the digital preservation of cultural heritage on Venice’s San Giorgio Maggiore island. The centre will raise awareness globally of the ways that digital technology, such as intelligent computer software and the ability to securely archive large quantities of data, can be used for the preservation and distribution of cultural heritage. There will also be training opportunities for scholars and researchers.

Art project to temporarily resurrect Berlin Wall is cancelled | DAU, an art project that planned to temporarily erect a replicated section of the Berlin Wall, has been cancelled just two weeks before it was due to launch on 12 October. When the project was announced it was heavily criticised in the Berlin press, with many arguing that the history invoked was too recent to revisit. There were also significant concerns about the safety and technical feasibility of the work. The cultural initiative would have involved film screenings and contributions from Marina Abramović, Brian Eno and Massive Attack among 13 artistic collaborators. The artwork was to be torn down on 9 November, to commemorate the date that the real Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Iniva will relocate to the Chelsea College of Arts campus | Iniva, which stands for the Institute of International Visual Arts, will be relocating to 16 John Islip Street, part of the campus of the UAL’s Chelsea College of Arts. Iniva advocates for diversity in the arts and has collaborated with the college on past research projects, a partnership it hopes to consolidate with the move. The new building will provide more space for a library, archive and activities or events, so that both institutions can advance the conversation around race, culture and gender.

Designer John Christakos to be new president of board of trustees at Walker Art Center | The designer John Christakos has been named the new president of the board of trustees at Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center. Christakos is a co-founder of Blue Dot design studio and his work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Centre Pompidou. He began the two year presidency on Tuesday.

Recommended reading | Executive editor of ARTnews, Andrew Russeth, shares a diary from the past year spent as an art critic in New York. In the Guardian, Judith Wilkinson interviews Jenny Holzer about school shoots, #MeToo and Trump. The New York Times honours the Cuban immigrant artist Ana Mendieta with an obituary 33 years after her death as part of their Overlooked series, which seeks to remember those whose deaths had been left unreported by an overwhelmingly white, male writing staff.