Artists Pledge to Spurn Oil Company Money

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Artists to Boycott Oil Money | Art world figures including Hans Haacke, Jem Finer and Raoul Martinez have signed a pledge to spurn sponsorship from oil companies as part of a campaign that saw Tate Modern and the British Museum ‘occupied’ by activists in recent weeks. Will Haacke, who has three works in the Tate collection, ask for them to be removed from display?

Dallas Museum Director Steps Down | Maxwell L. Anderson announced today that he had left his post at the Dallas Museum of Art in favour of a ‘new, exciting opportunity in New York City’. He moves to the New Cities Foundation to lead its grant programs – leaving DMA President Walter Elcock to oversee the hunt for a new director.

‘Dismaland’ to be Shipped to Calais as Refugee Accommodation | Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ theme park in Weston-Super-Mare is to be dismantled and reassembled in Calais for use as accommodation in the giant refugee camp outside the French port. How the 5,000 or so inhabitants of the ‘Jungle’ camp will react to their new facilities – described as ‘crap’ by Banksy himself – remains to be seen.

Two Goya Paintings Stolen in Madrid | Two paintings attributed to Francisco de Goya were stolen from a property in the Madrid suburb of Villanueva de la Cañada, reports El País. A spokesman from the Art Recovery Group has posited a theory that the thieves did not enter the premises with any specific intention of stealing the works, which were last seen on public display together in 1928.

Left to the Elements: ‘No Intervention’ for Threatened Spiral Jetty | A drought in Utah’s Great Salt Lake area is putting Robert Smithson’s famous Spiral Jetty under threat, reports The Art Newspaper. However, the three bodies responsible for the 1970 work have agreed to leave it be, adding that the artist would have welcomed any natural change to the work.

Brooklyn Protest Mural Vandalised | A mural in Brooklyn protesting against the imprisonment of Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been defaced with paintballs after complaints that it was ‘insensitive’ to victims of 9/11, reports the New York Times. The irony of repressing art that champions freedom of expression is clearly lost on certain citizens of the land of the free.

Art Dealers Association of America Names New President | Cheim & Read’s Adam Sheffer has been named as the new president of the Art Dealers Association of America. Sheffer will replace Dorsey Waxter, who has been at the helm of ADAA since 2012.

Carol Rama (1918–2015) | Finally, saddening news from Italy, where artist Carol Rama has died aged 97. Rama, who was self-taught, was known for erotic paintings that caused much controversy in Mussolini-era Italy. Her contribution to art history did not go unnoticed, however: in 2003, she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th Venice Biennale.