DRAF appoints Fatoş Üstek as director

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

DRAF appoints Fatoş Üstek as director | The David Roberts Art Foundation (DRAF) has announced the appointment of Fatoş Üstek as its new director, replacing Vincent Honoré who left the foundation for the Hayward Gallery late last year. Üstek, formerly an independent curator and writer, will oversee DRAF’s ongoing programme in London (following the closure of its Camden gallery space in October 2017) and new initiatives in the rest of the UK. The appointment may delay the foundation’s previous plans to open a sculpture garden in Somerset, reports ArtNet.

Hubert de Givenchy (1927–2018) | French couturier Hubert de Givenchy died on Saturday, at the age of 91. Givenchy, who founded the house of Givenchy in 1952, was renowned for designing the wardrobes of stars and public figures including Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly. He also amassed a diverse collection of art, spanning painting, sculpture and decorative art; for Apollo’s interview with the couturier from 2012, see here.

Open letter criticises dismissal of Bordeaux director | More than 50 art world figures have signed an open letter in support of Marìa Inés Rodriguez, director of Bordeaux’s musée d’art contemporain (CAPC), who is reportedly facing dismissal from her role. Hans Ulrich-Obrist and Christian Boltanski are among the signatories to the letter (published in Libération on 9 March [French-language article]), which argues that it ‘would be a dramatic error to let shortsighted political motivations determine [the] end-point’ of the CAPC.

New Rotterdam exhibition space to honour Dutch emigrants | The city of Rotterdam has approved the Droom en Daad Foundation’s plans to acquire Fenixloods II, a historic warehouse situated in the Katendracht district of Rotterdam (Dutch-language article). The foundation, led by Wim Pijbes, plans to open an exhibition space on the site, to tell the story of the millions of emigrants who, from the late 19th century, departed from the docks at Katendracht for America.

Guggenheim to acquire controversial Xu Bing work | ArtNews reports that the Guggenheim Museum in New York is in the process of acquiring a provocative piece by Chinese-born artist Xu Bing. The work, A Case Study of Transference, is a video from 1994 documenting a performance piece in which two pigs copulate before a live audience. It was removed from an exhibition at the Guggenheim last September following protests by animal-rights activists.