Students on Columbia University MFA demand tuition fee refunds 51 of 54 students on the university’s fine art programme are demanding a refund, claiming the institution’s facilities are ‘decrepit’, and that tutors have been absent.
Last month they met with provost John Coatsworth and David Madigan, the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, to discuss the possibility of a refund. Although Coatsworth agreed that there were issues with the facilities, he said a refund was not possible.
Students with studios in the site’s Prentice Hall building have complained of flooding, lack of and excessive heating, and pieces of the ceiling falling down. The annual tuition fee to study on the course in 2017/18 was $63,961 – the equivalent of around £47,000.
Protesters occupy Brooklyn Museum to highlight issue of gentrification and decolonisation The action comes after the museum recently appointed two white curators, including in the field of African art. Dozens of protesters from various grassroots groups, including the American Indian Community House, dropped banners, held up signs, and invited people who’d gathered to speak.
Hyperallergic reports that the protesters are demanding ‘deep diversification of museum staff and the removal of board president David Berliner’, who is connected to many real estate interests. They also want a commitment from the museum to ‘mitigate gentrification’, and an acknowledgement of the full history of the museum’s holdings, including a land acknowledgement that would ‘highlight the fact that the institution was built on indigenous land’.
Art UK begins project to digitise 170,000 sculptures Works of art located inside UK galleries, museums, public buildings and outdoors in parks, streets and squares, will be available on the free-to-access artuk.org website. The first photography session recently took place at Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, with the first work captured being a sculpture from 1918 by Sir Jacob Epstein of the head of the Italian heiress and patron of the arts Marchesa Luisa Casati Stampa di Soncino.
French museum discovers most of its collection are counterfeit works Dedicated to celebrated local painter Etienne Terrus, who died in 1922, the museum has just undergone a massive renovation. Plans were in place to celebrate its reopening only for a guest curator to raise concerns over the authenticity of some of the works in its collection.
Now, over half the museum’s works are said to be counterfeit. As Artforum reports, art historian Eric Forcada has pointed out that some of the works feature buildings that had not even been constructed at the time the paintings were supposedly created.
Protests over deaths of three Mexican film students The students, who were abducted on 19 March while working on a school project, are believed to have been murdered by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. According to Mexico Daily News, Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, Marcos Francisco García Ávalos, and Jesús Daniel Díaz García may have been mistaken for rival gang members after they shot a film where the cartel was expecting the leader of another criminal group to arrive.
Grimsby based artist Annabel McCourt to present site specific performance at Dakar Biennale The installation, which was previously exhibited as part of Hull’s City of Culture celebrations, represents the barriers faced by people who have been subjected to hate crime. In addition, Ethiopia-based artist Wanja Kimani will present a performance in response to McCourt’s work.
Image:
1. HM Lord Lieutenant of Essex examines an Epstein sculpture. Courtesy: Art UK
More on a-n.co.uk:
Now Showing #243: The week’s top exhibitions
Moving image takes centre stage for Turner Prize 2018 shortlist
John Moores Painting Prize 2018: 60 artists chosen for 60th anniversary exhibition
