Otobong Nkanga wins inaugural Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award

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Otobong Nkanga wins inaugural Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award | Otobong Nkanga was announced as the inaugural winner of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award at a ceremony in London last night. Nkanga, who is originally from Nigeria but is now based in Antwerp, has a multi-disciplinary practice that addresses environmental issues, in particular the extraction of natural resources. The award recognises mid-career artists with a prize of $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, a museum in Norway.

Chile criticised for authorising use of heavy machinery in treasure hunt | Chile’s National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) has authorised the use of heavy machinery for excavations by Dutch-American businessman Bernard Keiser, who has spent decades searching for a hoard of treasure rumoured to be have been buried by 18th-century Spanish pirates on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, part of the Juan Fernández national park. Local archaeologists and environmentalists accuse the search for the fabled collection of gold statues, coins, jewellery and Incan objects of being motivated purely by ‘profit, and not archaeological interest’.

Wolfgang Tillmans to chair London’s ICA | German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has been named the new chair of the board of London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. Tillmans has been a member of the board since 2017 and replaces philanthropist Hadeel Ibrahim as chair.