In Brief: Henry Moore’s sculpture ‘Old Flo’ returns to east London; Documenta sued by Germany’s right-wing AfD party

Henry Moore’s sculpture ‘Old Flo’ returns to east London The artist’s 1957 work, which was nearly sold off by Tower Hamlets council, had been in Yorkshire but is now on display at Canary Wharf. The work has survived vandalism, the demolition of her original setting, a custody battle in the courts and attempts by a council to raise cash by auctioning her off. The announcement of the sale in 2012 provoked outrage, with protests from thousands of local residents, backed by high-profile figures in the art world including Arts Council England chair Sir Nicholas Serota, who was director of the Tate at the time.

Allegedly looted antiquities on sale at London Frieze Masters art fair The works were previously in the possession of Switzerland-based Sicilian dealer Gianfranco Becchina, who was linked to widespread looting networks. The two vases were on the stand of a Basel-based dealer named Jean-David Cahn. Nothing in accompanying documentation mentioned Becchina’s name, but Christos Tsirogiannis, a prominent Cambridge-based forensic archaeologist, identified the marble vases – known as lekythoi and dating from the 4th century BC – as related to the convicted dealer.

Pussy Riot stages protest at Trump Tower Three members of the Russian punk rock band and art collective Pussy Riot stormed New York’s Trump Tower on Monday in protest of the imprisonment of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. Wearing balaclavas, Masha Alokhina and two unnamed members of the collective unfurled a banner reading ‘Free Sentsov’ from a mezzanine at the hotel and threw pamphlets into the lobby below.

Artforum issues statement on publisher Knight Landesman’s resignation After a lawsuit accusing Artforum publisher Knight Landesman of sexual misconduct was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, Landesman left the magazine. Following his resignation, Artforum has released a statement in response.

Photographer Terry Richardson banned from working with Vogue and other magazines, leaked email shows An email circulated within the media group Condé Nast International on Monday announced that the company would no longer work with the fashion photographer. Staff were told that any work already commissioned from Richardson but not yet published should be ‘killed or substituted with other material’. Richardson has previously faced allegations of the sexual exploitation of models, something he has always denied.

Nato Thompson to move from Creative Time to Philadelphia Contemporary Thompson is to leave his role as artistic director of the New York public art organisation to take up the same position at the newly created Philadelphia Contemporary. Thompson has been at Creative Time for a decade and has been involved in projects such as Kara Walker’s 2014 installation A Subtlety and Pedro Reyes’ Doomocracy (2016). In 2015, a year which saw Thompson organise a special Creative Time Summit at the Venice Biennale, a-n interviewed the then chief curator as part of our ongoing A Q&A with… series.

Team led by David Adjaye to design new Holocaust memorial in London The design – a collaboration between Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, the Israeli architect Rod Arad, and the landscape architecture firm of Gustafson Porter & Bowman – will feature an underground learning centre beneath an elevated memorial site, and will be situated in a park near the Houses of Parliament.

Documenta sued by Germany’s right-wing AfD party In the aftermath surrounding the financial problems of Documenta 14, allegedly brought on by administrative oversights, members of Germany’s right-wing AfD party who occupy a section of the city council of Kassel are now suing the exhibition’s organisers. The artistic director Adam Szymczyk; CEO Annette Kulenkampff; former mayor and board chair Bertram Hilgen; and current board chair and mayor Christian Geselle are being sued for the purported ‘misappropriation of funds and other offenses’.

Arrest of cultural activist at Turkish airport sparks outcry Renowned Turkish peace activist Osman Kavala was detained by counterterrorist police at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul. Kavala is the chairman of Anadolu Kültür (Anatolian Culture), a nonprofit that fights for artistic rights and cultural diversity.

Goldie to present this year’s Turner Prize in Hull DJ, producer and artist Goldie will announce the winner of the Turner Prize 2017 at an awards ceremony in Hull on Tuesday 5 December. An exhibition of the four shortlisted artists – Hurvin Anderson, Andrea Büttner, Lubaina Himid and Rosalind Nashashibi – runs until 7 January 2018 at the Ferens Art Gallery.

Image:
1. Henry Moore, Reclining Figure at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Copyright: David Sands. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license

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