Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Southbank Centre withdraws controversial plan for Festival Hall rooftop bar | The Southbank Centre has dropped its widely criticised plans for a bar and performance space on top of the Festival Hall. In statement issued today, the Southbank Centre says, ‘The feasibility of the retail proposition developed by the operator for the Royal Festival Hall roof has proved to be more challenging than anticipated and therefore we do not propose to continue with that project at this time.’
Eduardo Arroyo (1937–2018) | The Spanish painter, set designer and writer Eduardo Arroyo has died at the age of 81. Born in Madrid, Arroyo later moved to Paris in the late 1950s, where he became a key figure in the Narrative Figuration movement. For a full profile of his life and career, read his obituary in Le Figaro (French-language article).
Prizes go to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Postcommodity at Carnegie International 2018 | The British painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye has been awarded the $10,000 Carnegie Prize, announced at the opening on Friday evening of the 57th edition of the Carnegie International, which is held at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Fine Prize, also worth $10,000 and awarded to an emerging artist included in the exhibition, went to the Indigenous artist collective Postcommodity.
Recommended Reading | Writing for Hyperallergic, Natasha Seaman visits MoMA’s exhibition exploring the construction of national identity through architecture in former Yugoslavia – and remembers her own trip to the country in 1986. In the London Review of Books, Rosemary Hill considers the objects included – and left out of – ‘I object: Ian Hislops search for dissent’ at the British Museum. And the New York Times looks at some of the museums and arts organisations that have been ‘forced to reassess Saudi ties’ in the wake of the alleged state-ordered assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.