Co-founder of Dakar-based collective Laboratoire Agit’Art, Issa Samb, passes away at 71
Issa Samb, the Senegalese painter, sculptor, performance artist, playwright and poet, passed away on April 25, at the age of seventy-one.
As one of the founding members of the seminal Laboratoire Agit’Art, Samb triumphed Senegalese artistic production, whilst actively deconstructing the first president of Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor's aesthetic ideals, which promoted a fetishized idea of African symbols, decoration and beauty. Under the pseudonym Joe Ouakam, Samb was featured in a retrospective at the National Art Gallery, Dakar, in 2010, and included in documenta 13, in 2012. Details via OkayAfrica.
Issa Samb, London, April 2014. Image courtesy of Christa Holka | Issa Samb, installation view, Office for Contemporary Art, Norway, 2013
Jean Pigozzi to build foundation for Contemporary African Art in Europe
Renowned for his extensive collection of contemporary African art, Jean Pigozzi, the French venture capitalist, is planning on building a foundation to house and exhibit these works in Europe. In an interview with Le Quotidien de l’Art, Pigozzi reasoned, “it would be sad if thirty years of work disappeared, and the 10,000-strong collection was dispersed, if I were to fall under a taxi one day in London. It is still incredible that neither the Museum of Modern Art, nor Beaubourg (the Centre Pompidou in Paris), nor the Metropolitan Museum of Art have a department of contemporary African art.”
A number of works from Pigozzi’s collection are now on display at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, as part of the “Art/Africa: the New Atelier” exhibition that premiered last night, running through to August 28. Among the fifteen artists Pigozzi has lent works by, are Romuald Hazoumé, Seydou Keïta and Chéri Samba. Details via The Art Newspaper.
Jean Pigozzi. Image courtesy of Avenue Insider
Metropolitan Museum of Art to charge compulsory admission fees for out-of-state visitors
After revealing a $10 million deficit last year, which management at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York said could quickly spiral to $40 million if it did not start to scale back immediately, the Met is reportedly considering whether to charge admission to people visiting from outside of the state.
Though the museum currently has suggested admission prices — $25 for adults, $17 for senior citizens, and $12 for students (children are free) — many visitors do not pay. As a result, admissions sales made up only 13 percent of the Met’s overall revenue in 2016. Details via The New York Times
The Met Museum, New York
Mika Tajima and Patricia Treib win Artadia 2017 New York Award
Each receiving unrestricted cash prize of $10,000, Mika Tajima and Patricia Treib have been awarded the Artadia Award in the second edition of the New York initiative. Artadia received 683 applications this year, in the competition open to all visual artists living in New York City for over two years, working in any media, and at any stage of their career.
Finalists included Dawn Kasper, Michael Portnoy, and Jessica Vaughn, who were, along with Tajima and Treib, selected by jurors Kimberly Drew, at the Met, New York; artist Jonah Freeman; and Matthew Lyons, curator at The Kitchen, New York.
