Photographer Richard Mosse arrested at anti-refugee rally

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Richard Mosse arrested at anti-refugee rally in Greece | Prix Pictet-winning Irish photographer Richard Mosse says he was arrested last week on the Greek island of Chios while observing an anti-refugee rally. Mosse, who was on the Aegean island to film an interview programme for Bloomberg’s ‘Brilliant Ideas’ series, claims he was wrestled to the ground by plain-clothes policemen and held overnight. ‘The police seemed to jump to the conclusion, based on me being a foreigner and wearing black, that I was an anarchist and must be arrested’, he told the Art Newspaper in an email. ‘If, as an EU citizen, I can be treated in this way by a European police force, how then are stateless and vulnerable refugees treated?’

IMMA director Sarah Glennie to step down | The Irish Museum of Modern Art has announced that its director, Sarah Glennie, is to step down at the end of 2017. Glennie has led the museum since 2012, and presided over an exceptional rise in visitor numbers, making IMMA the second most visited free attraction in Ireland. Glennie is to take up the position of director of Ireland’s National College of Art and Design in January 2018.

$12m worth of art reported stolen from Queens storage facility | Twenty-two works of art worth an estimated $12m have gone missing from an art storage facility in Queens, reports the New York Daily News. William Pordy, the owner of the works, told police that he found the lock on his unit cut and replaced with a new one when he visited it earlier this month. The unit is said to have contained works by artists including Frank Stella and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Known forger arrested on suspicion of resuming counterfeit operation | Vincent Lopreto, a known art forger only recently released from prison for his part in an earlier counterfeit scheme, was arrested last week after allegedly attempting to sell fake Damien Hirst prints to collectors. According to the New York Times, Lopreto was detained in New Orleans after police discovered counterfeit works and a printer in his apartment. It is believed that he was attempting to sell some $400,000 worth of fakes to collectors in New York and overseas. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.