Paris’s Bourse de Commerce to open as museum

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

François Pinault to open Paris museum | In a press conference today, art collector François Pinault and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that they had reached an agreement that will allow Pinault to open a new museum in the city’s Bourse de Commerce. (French language article.) The new venue, scheduled to open by the end of 2018, will display works from Pinault’s €1.2bn collection, as well as hosting temporary contemporary art exhibitions. The Bourse de Commerce, a circular building close to the Les Halles shopping centre, was built in the late 18th century, and underwent major renovations in the 1880s. Pinault has long harboured ambitions of opening a Paris museum, but until now attempts to establish a space in the French capital have foundered. The museum will be directed by Martin Béthenod, who also runs Pinault’s two institutions in Venice.

St Petersburg City Court set to close case against Pyotr Pavlensky | The case against performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who was arrested after setting fire to the headquarters of Russia’s security service, is scheduled to close because too much time has lapsed. According to the Moscow Times, though, Pavlensky objects to the decision. ‘I spoke with my client before the meeting, he was against the closure of the case,’ his lawyer told reporters. ‘We have witnesses, they need to be questioned.’

Long Museum to open third space | Chinese collectors Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian are to open a new outpost of their Long Museum in Chongqing at the end of next month. This new incarnation of the Long Museum will see the institution opening its third branch in just four years. According to The Art Newspaper, the 10,000 sq. m museum’s inaugural exhibition will focus on Chinese oil painting since the revolution of 1911.

Ron Arad announced for St Pancras station commission | The Royal Academy has announced that RA Ron Arad is to become the second artist chosen for St Pancras International station’s ‘Terrace Wires’ public sculpture commission. Thought of Train of Thought, the work for which Arad has been selected, will be unveiled at the station in July.

Recommended reading: Moscow’s ‘tacky’ public art | The New Yorker’s Masha Gessen has provided an enlightening guide to a strange variety of public art that has flooded the streets of Moscow in recent weeks. ‘It [is] as if the city had been invaded by a horde of aliens with flamboyantly bad taste,’ she writes. In the Guardian, Charlotte Higgins speaks to Gabriele Finaldi. ‘I can’t deny that I am strongly European. It’s in my genes and I feel very passionate about Europe and what we share together,’ he tells her when asked about the consequences Britain’s departure from the European Union might have for the National Gallery. Meanwhile in the New York Times, Elisabetta Povoledo reports from Rome, where a grassroots campaign to clean up the Tiber’s neglected banks is taking place.