Christo reveals more details of Serpentine project

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Christo reveals more details of Serpentine project | Christo has released the first images of his upcoming project on the Serpentine Lake in London, which will coincide with an exhibition of the artist and his wife Jeanne-Claude’s work at the Serpentine Gallery. The artwork will involve creating a 500-ton mixed media sculpture, The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), which will float on the lake from June until September. The initiative is Christo’s first major outdoor work in the UK and, like all his projects, will be entirely funded by the artist himself through the sale of his work.

Marcos art-collection dispute goes to trial | A US district judge has ruled that a decades-long dispute over the art collection of Ferdinand Marcos must go to trial, reports ArtNet. On 29 March, Judge Katherine Polk Failla filed a ruling denying a motion to dismiss several competing motions for summary judgment. The plaintiffs argue that Marcos acquired works of art including Monet’s L’Église et La Seine à Vétheuil and Sisley’s Langland Bay using funds misappropriated from the state during his time in power.

Bugada & Cargnel gallery closes Paris space | Parisian gallery Bugada & Cargnel has announced that it has ‘ceased its activities’ in its space in the east of the city. According to ArtNews, gallerists Claudia Cargnel and Frédéric Bugada say they plan to continue operating in a gallery ‘in a different form’, but for the time being have ceased representation of their artist roster. Since it opened in the Belleville space over a decade ago, the gallery has hosted exhibitions by artists including Julio Le Parc, Cyprien Gaillard and Julian Charrière.

Julia Kristeva dismisses espionage allegations | Philosopher, critic and cultural theorist Julia Kristeva has dismissed allegations that she aided the foreign intelligence services of her native Bulgaria during the Cold War. ‘The report that I may have been a member of the Bulgarian secret services under the name of Sabina is not only untrue [but] grotesque,’ Kristeva wrote in an email to Reuters. ‘It damages my honour and reputation and is damaging for my work as well.’

SCDA Architects to helm Singapore Art Museum renovations | SCDA Architects is to helm a $90m renovation programme at the Singapore Art Museum, it was announced yesterday. The project is the first such initiative the museum has taken since 1996, and is aimed at improving disabled access and allowing the institution to house large scale contemporary art installations. Work on the museum is expected to reach completion in 2021.