Damien Hirst Formaldehyde Works Under Scrutiny, Hong Kong Artists Brace for New Security Law, Banksy Mural Vandalized, and More: Morning Links for March 20, 2024

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THE HEADLINES

AGE AS A CONCEPT. Three of Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde animal sculptures dated to the 1990’s were in fact made in 2017, according an investigation by the Guardian . The backdated works preserve a dove, a shark, and two calves, and have been shown around the world as examples of work from “the early to mid-1990’s,” a highly valued period in Hirst’s career. But it appears Hirst’s workshop employees in Dudbridge, Gloucestershire made them in 2017. The news may explain why the pieces were unknown before their public display, and the Guardian “could find no mention anywhere of the works having existed, in any form, prior to 2017.” In response, Hirst’s company, Science Ltd, said: “Formaldehyde works are conceptual artworks and the date Damien Hirst assigns to them is the date of the conception of the work.” 

ARTIST SURVEY CENSORED. The Los Angeles-based artist Charles Gaines told ARTnews’ Senior Editor Maximiliano Duron that the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami not only removed one artwork from his major survey for a brief period, as was revealed last week, but had also at various points, attempted to block certain works from going on view, because of their political content, and suggested altering an artwork in order to remove a word used in it. The museum reportedly took down a work depicting the late Palestinian critic and activist  Edward Said around the time of the museum’s annual benefit, and later re-added it to the show.

THE DIGEST

A brand-new Banksy mural that appeared last weekend in Finsbury Park, London, was defaced with large splashes of white paint. Locals discovered the act of vandalism early today, and tall metal fencing has been installed around the tree and the wall Banksy painted to look like green foliage, with a stenciled person looking up at it. [BBC]

Hong Kong’s government moved on Tuesday to pass tough new security laws intended to limit foreign influence and dissent. The Beijing-backed political policies are hurting the city’s image as a dynamic economic and cultural center, amid fears of censorship in the arts. [The New York Times]

Meanwhile, Art Basel Hong Kong opens later this month, and The New York Times has dedicated a series of articles around the event, which organizers have said will be larger this year, reaching a “pre-pandemic scale.” [The New York Times]

Two visitors say they were denied entry to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, because they possessed a Palestinian headscarf, or keffiyeh. [Hyperallergic]

The UK government has pledged to streamline customs processes to boost the domestic art market and simplify art imports. The decision responds to significant red tape around customs, which grew following Brexit, corresponding to an imports drop by more than half of pre-Brexit-vote levels. [The Art Newspaper]

Hélio Menezes has been named the new director of São Paulo’s Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo. [ArtReview]

Sharon Stone talks to The Guardian about her art practice in time for a solo exhibition at a Berlin gallery, and another opening in San Francisco. “Before we start killing and maiming and wounding thousands of women and children, we need big brains, more emotional intelligence, not more small-penis energy. My painting is about all that,” Stone said. [The Guardian]

Archaeologists have found a grouping of petroglyphs in circular motifs, called “Cariri Indian carvings,” beside dinosaur tracks in Brazil’s Paraíba State, at what is known as the Serrote do Letreiro Site. [Heritage Daily]

THE KICKER

CULTURAL SWISS ARMY KNIFE. Architect Francois Chatillon takes the Financial Times on a tour of the Grand Palais, a massive, glass-domed venue built in 1900, equally coveted by organizers of art fairs, fashion shows, and agro-industrialists, as it nears the late stages of its renovation. Following “endless debates about what to save and what to modernize,” the historic monument is set to open its central nave in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The newly expanded space, which Chatillon compares to a cultural “Swiss Army knife,” is about 775,000-square-feet and frees up areas previously off-limits to the public, while restoring the monument’s original central axis. “When you step through the rotunda, you’ll get a perspective that no one has seen since 1939,” Chatillon said.