New Alliance of Major Art Fairs Commits to Slashing Carbon Emissions, Berlin’s Cultural Affairs Official Targeted for Palestine Stance: Morning Links for September 26, 2024

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The Headlines

FAIR TO GO GREEN? Art Basel, Frieze, and Tefaf are among more than 40 art fairs that have pledged to cut their carbon footprint in half by 2030, as part of a new alliance launched by the London-based Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), reports The Financial Times. Thirteen organizations representing the art fairs, including ARCO and The Armory Show, signed the Art Fair Co-Commitment Statement. The GCC found that one-third of a typical gallery’s yearly carbon emissions are due to art fairs, with air travel for artworks and attendees accounting for most of the pollution, followed by temporary and single-use materials related to fairs. “Fairs aren’t directly responsible for all the emissions involved, but, as hosts, they have a shared responsibility to encourage exhibitors to reduce them,” GCC director Heath Lowndes said. How to effectively incentivize and convince the art world to reach their new sustainability goal, is the next big question.

BERLIN CULTURE OFFICIAL TARGETED. On Monday, the home of Berlin’s cultural affairs official, senator Joe Chialo, was covered in red paint and daubed in the words “genocide Joe Chialo,” reports AFP and Barron’s. Police are investigating. Chialo was heckled earlier this month by pro-Palestinian protesters and has been under fire for proposing that public arts funding recipients sign a opposing antisemitism. Additionally, Chialo withdrew funding for the Oyoun cultural center, which the senate accused of antisemitism — allegations which the center has denied. Following the Monday incident, Chialo told local reporters, “I will not allow myself to be intimated.”

The Digest

Emerging artist Li Hei Di has joined Pace Gallery. At 27, the London-based artist born in Shenyang, China is the youngest person on the gallery’s roster. She will have their first solo show with Pace in Hong Kong next year and will continue working with current dealers Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London. [ARTnews]

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky officially opened the Ukrainian Museum’s “Alexandra Exter: The Stage is a World” in New York on Monday. Following his visit, Zelensky posted a message on Twitter about “rightly” assigning the works of several historic artists “with their true, Ukrainian origin,” adding that, “we continue the decolonization of Ukrainian art” following its appropriation by Russia. [The Art Newspaper]

France still has some catching up to do when it comes to restituting Nazi-looted art, despite recent legislation to speed up the process, says a new report by France’s national auditing body, the Cour des Comptes. Notably, a lack of funds compared to its European neighbors has severely delayed belated research into provenance of ownerless artworks recovered from Nazi Germany, while art dealers are also largely to blame for “remaining insufficiently responsible on the subject,” says the report. [Liberation]

Convicted art-world fraudster Anna Sorokin failed to impress Dancing with the Stars’ viewers this week. She was quickly voted off the show. After her elimination, Sorokin was asked what she would take away from the experience, to which she answered: “Nothing.” [The Art Newspaper]

The Kicker

LEAVING A TRACE. Artist and author Edmund de Waal spoke to The Times about his two loves: words and clay. Along with preparing for international exhibitions of his poetic, porcelain-based installations and pots, de Waal is chairing the Booker Prize judging panel, and is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010). Yet the artist’s literary and artistic successes have done little to rid him of lingering insecurity, he confesses. “Each time I begin a new project, whether it’s a book or an artwork, I wonder if it will find a place in the world. I don’t seem to be able to carry forward confidence from one thing to another.” That may be, but his creations are here to stay. The next one goes on view in an installation titled Library of Exile at the Warburg Institute in London. It’s a liquid porcelain structure onto which de Waal wrote the names of libraries that have been destroyed. The work is inspired by the looting of his grandfather’s library in Vienna by the Nazis in 1938. “Historically libraries have always been in the firing line. They’re seen as dangerous. Just look at how they’ve been systematically targeted in Ukraine and Gaza,” he said.