Lucas Museum Delays Opening to 2025—and More Art News – ARTnews.com

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The Headlines

UNDER CONSTRUCTION. The opening for the long-awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has been delayed again, this time to 2025, the Los Angeles Times reports. It’s the second postponement in a two-year span; the first, in 2021, was done in response to Covid. Nevertheless, the museum, which is funded by ARTnews Top 200 Collectors George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, is plowing forward with the construction process. “We wanted to give ourselves time, once the building is complete, to make sure the building goes through the proper readiness and remediation processes, so we can ensure the artwork is safe coming into the building,” director Sandra Jackson-Dumont told the paper. “And that process—the mitigation—really takes a period of time.”

ART THERAPY of a sort is now on offer in Brussels. Artnet News reports that the Brugmann University Hospital is piloting a program where psychiatrists can offer what they’re calling a “museum prescription,” which is essentially a doctor’s orders to get thee to an institution. People who receive the prescription get five free visits to a spread of museums, including the contemporary art space Centrale. The inspiration, its organizers told the Guardian, was a similar program done in Canada in 2018. That initiative postulated that seeing art could increase the secretion of hormones like serotonin.

The Digest

Adrián Villar Rojas has been picked to take over all 23,680 square feet of a new underground space at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which is set to reopen in December following an expansion. [The Guardian]

The Turner Prize–nominated group Forensic Architecture said it has uncovered new evidence related to the shooting of Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh. Forensic Architecture claims it can now “conclusively” show that Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American, was targeted by Israeli forces. [The Art Newspaper]

Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, the person behind the popular art-world satire Instagram account Jerry Gogosian, is partnering with Sotheby’s to lead a sale of emerging artists. Per W, all the artists in it are “pulled directly from @jerrygogosian’s Instagram network.” [W Magazine]

Collector Howard Farber and his wife Patricia are set to sell a group of a Cuban artworks at Christie’s in a Latin American art sale this month. On tap are works by Los Carpinteros, Belkis Ayón, Tania Bruguera, and more. [Penta]

Philanthropist Ellen Stirn Mavec is the new board chair of the Cleveland Museum of Art. She replaces Scott Mueller, an ARTnews Top 200 Collector who had served as chair since 2019. [Cleveland.com]

GALLERY REPRESENTATION DISPATCH. The artist Zineb Sedira, who did the stunning French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year, has joined Goodman Gallery. Petrit Halilaj is now on the roster of kurimanzutto , which has spaces in Mexico City and New York. Umar Rashid, who has a MoMA PS1 show opening this week, forged ties with Almine Rech, which also yesterday announced plans to expand to Tribeca. And last week, the foundation of the late painter Hedda Sterne got representation with Victoria Miro.

The Kicker

“ART PATZ” is the name that the New York Post has given to actor Robert Pattinson, who, as ARTnews previously reported, has curated a small auction for Sotheby’s. The Post now has a report saying that art-world insiders are displeased with the planned auction, which unnamed sources lambasted as a showy sales tactic. Sotheby’s, however, does not seem worried. A rep for the auction house said, “Encouraging fresh perspectives by working with guest curators is nothing new and we look forward to welcoming you at our exhibition which opens this weekend at 1334 York avenue.” [New York Post]