The week in art news – Adam Weinberg to step down as Whitney director

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York has announced that director Adam Weinberg will step down from his role on 31 October. Weinberg has been in post since 2003, during which time he oversaw the relocation of the museum to its new home, designed by Renzo Piano, in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District in 2015. More than 300 exhibitions have been staged at the Whitney under his stewardship, with Weinberg credited for strengthening the institution’s commitment to living artists – including by commissioning Day’s End, a colossal sculptural piece by David Hammons on Pier 52 (2021). Weinberg has also had to navigate a number of controversies – most particularly, the revelations in 2018 linking board vice chair Warren Kanders to the production of tear-gas, which resulted in Kanders’ resignation. More recently, Whitney workers have unionised for the first time, reaching a contract with management on Tuesday (6 March). Weinberg will be replaced by Scott Rothkopf, currently the Whitney’s senior deputy director and chief curator.

The architect Rafael Viñoly has died at the age of 78. The Uruguayan-born, New York-based architect – perhaps best known in the UK for 20 Fenchurch Street, or the ‘Walkie Talkie’ – designed more than 600 structures in his lifetime, including office and residential buildings, stadiums, airports, hotels, concert halls and museums (including the Cleveland Museum of Art). ‘He was a visionary who will be missed by all those whose lives he touched through his work,’ said his son Román Viñoly in a statement.

David Chipperfield has been awarded this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize. Born in London, Chipperfield graduated from the Architectural Association in 1977, after which he worked for Norman Foster and Richard Rogers before establishing his own eponymous practice in 1985. He has offices in Berlin, Milan, Shanghai and Santiago de Compostela and has designed buildings all over the world, including numerous museums; among them are the Hepworth in Wakefield, the Saint Louis Art Museum in Missouri and the Museo Jumex in Mexico City. The Pritzker jury praised his ‘understated but transformative’ body of work. David Chipperfield was the Apollo Personality of the Year in 2021; read his interview with Edwin Heathcote here.

The nave of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris will reopen to visitors in December 2024 – just about fulfilling a promise made by Emmanuel Macron, after the monument was destroyed by fire in 2019, to rebuild it ‘within five years’, although works are expected to continue until 2028.

Tate Liverpool has announced that it will close from 16 October until 2025 to undergo a £30m refurbishment, overseen by 6a architects. During the revamp – which Tate has previously said will ensure the space is ‘able to host people, art and ideas in equal measure’ – off-site events and installations will continue; full details of programming for 2024 will be announced in the coming months.

Carrie Mae Weems has been named the winner of this year’s prestigious Hasselblad photography prize, which comes with an award of SEK 2,000,000 Swedish Krona (roughly £155,500) as well as a medium-format camera with Hasselblad lenses. Born in Portland, Oregon, Weems studied dance before turning to photography to explore political issues, themes of racism and the African American experience. She is the first Black woman artist to receive the prize; previous winners include Dayanita Signh, Nan Goldin, Alfredo Jaar, Miyako Ishiuchi and Wolfgang Tillmans.