Italy Donates ‘Bull of Nimrud’ Replica to Iraq, Christie’s Cancels Tattoo Charity Auction, and More: Morning Links for February 9, 2024

The Headlines

ITALIAN SOFT POWER. Italy has donated a 3D-printed reproduction of the Assyrian Bull of Nimrud statue to Iraq, where it was place at the entrance of the Basrah Museum. The 16.4-foot-tall statue was previously displayed at the Colosseum in Rome and at Unesco in Paris. Originally constructed in the 9^th century BC, the ancient sculpture was destroyed by Isis in 2015 along with other precious artifacts from the archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud, near Mosul. Italy’s Associazione Incontro di Civiltà made a fiberglass copy of the sculpture after the attack, based on photo imagery, and has called the donation “a small miracle of Italian soft power.” 

SKIN DEEP. Yesterday the performance artist Wolfgang Flatz was set to auction pieces of his skin for charity at Christie’s in London. However, Christie’s has told ARTnews that ahead of the scheduled auction, an international collector bought the 12 lots to keep the work together, according to the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, which organized the sale. Flatz’s tattooed skin will be delivered to their new owner after his death, and in the meantime, the buyer will receive a “placeholder,” life-size photograph in black-and-white, with the auctioned portion of skin highlighted in color. Flatz has an exhibition at the until May at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

The Digest

Organizers of the Berlinale international film festival disinvited five politicians from the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) from the festival’s opening gala next week. Their reasons are due to AfD’s alleged “masterplan” for mass deportations, which organizers said were “explicitly anti-democratic.” [The Guardian]

Photographer Helga Paris died on Monday in Berlin at age 85. She was known for her photographs of everyday life in East Berlin and received overdue recognition for her work toward the end of her life. [Monopol Magazine]

The medals for the 2024 Olympics in Paris include pieces of iron from the Eiffel Tower in their design, by the jewelry house Chaumet. [Artnet News]

A new survey of 1,234 arts workers by the nonprofit ArtTable describes systemic unequal treatment of women and nonbinary people of color who work in the US culture sector. [Hyperallergic]

The Japanese art collective teamLab has opened a new, permanent immersive digital art exhibition called “teamLab Borderless” in Tokyo’s tallest skyscraper, Azabudai Hills, including some 50 different installations. [AFP]

French actress Judith Godreche has accused French ‘auteur’ filmmakers Benoit Jacquot (77) and Jacques Doillon (79) of sexual violence committed while she was a child, acting in their films. French prosecutors have opened a probe into the allegations, and other French actresses have since spoken publicly about sexual harassment by Doillon. Both men have denied wrongdoing.  [AFP]

Despite the recently announced end to a three-month strike at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, unsatisfied union members who were excluded from that agreement are holding talks on possibly pursuing a strike and their sense of “betrayal.” [Le Quotidien de l’Art]

An amateur metal detectorist found a rare 3,000-year-old gold dress or cloak fastener in Staffordshire, England. The discovery, recorded in a recent British Museum report, is believed to be originally from Ireland and one of seven similar artifacts found in the UK. [BBC and Artnet News]

The Kicker

ART-WORLD NE’ER-DO-WELLS. Columnist Kenny Schachter dishes it all in a diary entry for Artnet News about his “Woody Allen-ish” foray into the Los Angeles art scene, in time for a solo exhibition at the Pacific Design Center (PDC) Gallery. He also updates readers on the now-closed Dynamic Art Museum (DART) in Milan, which he reported is a complex scam. The “museum” previously denied wrongdoing, and their managing company has filed for “judicial liquidation” in Milan, according to Schacter. Plus, an unnamed contemporary art gallery with branches in LA, Hong Kong, and Paris, began paying most of the artists it owed money for years, after Schachter said he called the proprietor and threatened to feature their malpractices in a column. “Don’t underestimate the power of the keyboard, still,” he writes. Lastly, we learn that disgraced dealer Inigo Philbrick is in a Rhode Island halfway house.