Hermitage deputy director placed under house arrest

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Deputy director at State Hermitage Museums held under house arrest | A court in Moscow has ordered that Mikhail Novikov, a deputy director at St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museums, is to be placed under house arrest on charges of suspected fraud. According to the Art Newspaper, Novikov will be detained at home until 23 May in connection with the embezzlement of Rb100m in funds intended for cultural infrastructure projects. Critics of the Russian government suspect that Novikov’s arrest may be a reprisal for Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky’s negative view of plans to hand over control of St Petersburg’s St Isaac’s Cathedral, which is run as a museum, to the Orthodox church.

Turner Prize age limit scrapped, and judges announced for 2018 | The Tate has revealed the judges for the 2018 Turner Prize, also unveiling new selection criteria for the annual award. The competition will be judged by novelist Tom McCarthy, Kunsthalle Basel director Elena Filipovic, the Henry Moore Institute’s Lisa LeFeuvre and art critic and editor Oliver Basciano. The biggest change to the prize is that the selection criteria will no longer be limited to artists under the age of 50. From now on, contemporary artists of any age will be eligible for the award.

Getty Research Institute acquires Frank Gehry archives | The Getty Research Institute has announced the acquisition of a major archive covering more than 30 years of architect Frank Gehry’s career from 1954–88. The archive comprises some 1,000 sketches, 120,000 working drawings and 112 presentational models, as well as software, personal papers and other materials. Gehry said he was ‘honoured’ by the Getty’s acquisition.

Herzog & de Meuron to convert Brooklyn power station into arts hub | A defunct power station in Brooklyn, New York, is to be converted into an arts complex under plans drawn up by non-profit Powerhouse Environmental Arts Foundation. According to the Art Newspaper, the venue will be known as the Powerhouse Workshop, and will include exhibition spaces as well as facilities for the production of ceramics, textiles and prints. The project will be helmed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, with costs expected to be covered by the Foundation. Completion is scheduled for 2020.

Pompidou anniversary celebrations cancelled due to strike | A VIP dinner arranged to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Paris’s Centre Pompidou was cancelled this week due to a strike, reports Le Figaro (French language article). The museum leadership was forced to inform around 850 invitees, many of whom had travelled from abroad, that the event was to be postponed.