Beatrix Ruf to leave the Stedelijk Museum

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Beatrix Ruf to leave the Stedelijk Museum | Stedelijk Museum director Beatrix Ruf has resigned following speculation that she has engaged in work that resulted in a conflict of interest. The Stedelijk announced that Ruf is to step down ‘in the interests of the museum’, effective immediately. Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad has published reports alleging that aside from her position at the museum, Ruf has been involved with outside activities, including running an arts consultancy.

Pyotr Pavlensky arrested after setting fire to the Banque de France | Russian artist-activist Pyotr Pavlensky was arrested yesterday morning after setting fire to the Banque de France in Paris in an apparent protest against the economic system in Europe. In a statement made after the act, Pavlensky denounced ‘the bankers (who) took the place of the monarchs’ and called for a ‘great French Revolution’. Following several months of incarceration in Russia after a similar ‘protest’, Pavlensky was granted asylum in France earlier this year.

Omer Fast exhibition picketed by anti-racist activists | An Omer Fast exhibition at the James Cohan Gallery in New York’s Chinatown has been picketed by activists who say that the show’s content amounts to racism. The exhibition has seen the gallery reconfigured to mimic the appearance of a local, Chinese-owned business. Calling themselves the Chinatown Art Brigade, the activists issued a statement claiming that the ‘choice of visual signifiers’ represented ‘racist aggression towards the community of Chinatown’.

Museum dedicated to Einstein to open in Jerusalem | Jerusalem’s Hebrew University has announced that it is to open a museum dedicated to Albert Einstein. A potential museum devoted to the Nobel Prize-winning physicist has been mooted for several years, but has been held back due to budget constraints. The museum will now take shape in the university’s planetarium building with construction costs estimated at $5m.

Vincent Honoré and Cliff Lauson appointed senior curators at the Hayward Gallery | London’s Hayward Gallery has confirmed the appointment of Vincent Honoré and Cliff Lauson as senior curators. Lauson, who has been a curator at the gallery since 2009, will take up the post in November 2017. Honoré, who has been chief curator at the David Roberts Art Foundation for a decade, will join the Hayward in December.