Tristram Hunt calls for Exhibition Road to be pedestrianised

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Tristram Hunt calls for pedestrianisation of Exhibition Road | The director of the V&A has told the Art Newspaper that existing traffic arrangements on Exhibition Road are ‘confusing, dangerous and unsatisfactory’. Following a car accident on the street last weekend in which 11 people were injured, Hunt has reaffirmed his earlier calls for the thoroughfare to be wholly pedestrianised. ‘We need a solution, and we will be working together with our neighbouring organisations, residents and the council to address this’, he said.

Imperial War Museum expresses concerns over Holocaust memorial | The Observer reports that the Imperial War Museum in London has called for proposals for an Holocaust memorial next to the Houses of Parliament to be revised. Though the museum has publicly welcomed the proposal, it has raised concerns that plan for a memorial and education centre beneath the memorial clash with the museum’s own Holocaust centre, which is due to open in 2020.

Munich’s Haus der Kunst appoints executive to deal with its finances | Faced with a large deficit, the Haus der Kunst in Munich has hired a commercial managing director to help manage its financial problems. According to Monopol (via Artforum), the Bavarian culture minister Ludwig Spaenle has announced that Stefan Gros will assume the role, running the museum in tandem with director Okwui Enwezor.

Marina Abramovic cancels plans for performance art institute | Marina Abramovic has dropped her plans to open a space for performance art in a building she purchased in upstate New York. Having initially raised more than half a million dollars through a Kickstarter campaign, the artist says she has been unable to secure the requisite funding for the project.

Recommended reading | For her speech at Conservative Party conference last week, Theresa May wore a bracelet bearing the likeness of Frida Kahlo. On the LRB blog, Paul Clinton analyses the Prime Minister’s choice of accessory, and finds that it even odder than one might assume. In the Observer, Laura Cumming describes Superflex’s One Two Three Swing! as the ‘worst Turbine Hall commission in the history of Tate Modern’, while Vanity Fair’s Patrick Monahan visits the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, which has reopened after the devastating storms that have hit the territory. Elsewhere, Le Figaro has republished an interview with Paul Gauguin first printed in L’Écho de Paris in 1895 (French language article) and on ArtNet, Colin Gleadell rounds up last week’s London sales – as well as one spectacular non-sale.