Shortlist revealed for UK’s National Holocaust memorial

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Shortlist announced for UK National Holocaust memorial | The 10-strong shortlist to design a £40 million Holocaust memorial next to the Houses of Parliament has been revealed, reports the Architects’ Journal. Whittled down from nearly 100 submissions from 26 countries, the list includes some of contemporary architecture’s biggest names. Designs by Adjaye Associates, Caruso St John, and Studio Libeskind, and Foster + Partners are all in the running for the commission, as is a collaboration between Sir Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid Architects. The 10 proposals will go on public display in London next year before a decision is made by a jury chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.

Richard Prince sued for copyright infringement | Richard Prince is facing legal action, this time for his appropriation of an image of the musician Kim Gordon taken by photographer Eric McNatt. The Art Newspaper reports that McNatt’s complaint states that Prince used his image and posted it on Instagram having modified it only slightly. The artist then blew up the image as an inkjet print, which was subsequently offered for sale. A lawyer speaking on behalf of the artist says McNatt has ‘fundamentally [misunderstood] fair use’.

Whitney announces artists for 2017 Biennial | New York’s Whitney Museum has issued a full list of artists participating in its 2017 Whitney Biennial. The event will be the first to be held in the institution’s new downtown premises. Curated by Christopher Lew and Mia Locks, the Biennial will explore the ways in which artists can confront global instability and turbulence. For a full list of participating artists, see here.

Szczecin’s National Museum named World Building of the Year | Judges at the World Architecture Festival have named the National Museum in Szczecin, Poland, as ‘World Building of the Year 2016’. The panel of judges, which was chaired by architect David Chipperfield, praised the Robert Konieczny designed structure for ‘[addressing] the past in an optimistic, imaginative and poetic way’.

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin receive Presidential Medal of Freedom | President Obama has announced that architect Frank Gehry and artist and designer Maya Lin are among the individuals who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The award, which Obama will be presenting for the final time, is one of the highest civilian decorations of the United States.

Recommended reading | As with more immediately concerning areas of policy, the President Elect’s attitude to arts funding remains obscure, but Randy Kennedy in the New York Times does not hold out high hopes for the sector. In the New Yorker, ‘Factory of fakes’ profiles the work of Factum Arte and the Factum Foundation. Here in Britain, last week’s talking point was artist Helen Marten’s decision to share out the prize money she received for the inaugural Hepworth Sculpture award among her fellow nominees, saying she was uncomfortable with the ‘hierarchy’ of such accolades. In the Independent, David Lister argues that cash prizes for the arts should be scrapped entirely. Meanwhile in the New Statesman, Amelia Abraham argues the case for the UK to dedicate a museum to gay rights. ‘For me, a permanent gay and trans rights museum in the UK is a no brainer’, she writes. ‘It would be an acknowledgement that this history exists’.