Dedicated ‘artist zones’ proposed for London

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

London mayoralty proposes dedicated ‘artist zones’ to combat rising rents | Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture, has proposed the creation of ‘creative enterprise zones’ aimed at protecting artists’ studios from urban development and rising rents. ‘If you look at the average salary of an artist it’s about £10,000 a year. The average property price in London is about £600,000 a year. There is real pressure on affordability’, she told London’s Evening Standard. ‘What we want to create is an area where creative people can put down roots and that would be a creative enterprise zone. That’s working with local authorities, developers with the creative community and residents. It’s putting a spotlight and a ring around an area.’ Simons’ words are timely: last week, artists working in a studio complex in the east of the city were forced to vacate the premises to make way for a new development. For more on the difficulties facing artists in London, see Edwin Heathcote’s article from the January 2016 issue of Apollo.

Recipients of 2016 Praemium Imperiale revealed | The five recipients of this year’s Praemium Imperiale were made public yesterday (French language article.) Artists Cindy Sherman and Annette Messager received the respective awards for painting and sculpture, while Paulo Mendes da Rocha was named as the laureate in the architecture category. Director Martin Scorsese took the film award while the music category went to violinist Gidon Kremer. The prize is one of Japan’s most esteemed cultural awards, and is aimed at recognising the efforts of individuals who have ‘contributed to enriching humanity’.

Shortlist announced for Taylor Wessing photography prize | Images by photographers Joni Sternbach, Kovi Konowiecki and Claudio Rasano have been nominated for this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, the National Portrait Gallery has revealed. The three contenders for the £15,000 award were chosen from more than 4,000 submissions from nearly 2,000 photographers. ‘In an exhibition remarkable for its range of subjects and styles, the quality of this year’s shortlisted works reflects the outstanding level at which photographers across the world are working today,’ said NPG director Nicholas Cullinan. The winner will be announced on 15 November.

Investec to sponsor this year’s PAD | South African bank Investec has announced that it will be providing sponsorship for the year’s Pavilion of Art and Design (PAD) fair in London. Though it has sponsored cultural events in the UK before, this is the bank’s ‘first real art market move’, says Colin Gleadell in the Daily Telegraph. ‘We have a number of clients who collect modern and contemporary art and design, and that is where the impetus came from’, Investec’s Iain Clark said. ‘PAD seemed like just the right ‘niche’ event to be associated with’.

Art Berlin Contemporary cuts number of exhibitors | Art Berlin Contemporary (abc), the German capital’s art ‘anti-fair’, has revealed that it has significantly reduced the number of exhibiting galleries at its ninth edition. According to The Art Newspaper, abc has scaled back its exhibitor list to ‘just over 60 galleries, almost half the number in recent years.’ The event organisers say the decision was taken in order to ‘develop the exhibition more’.