Turner Prize 2018 shortlist announced

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Turner Prize 2018 shortlist announced | The shortlist for this year’s edition of the Turner Prize has announced. There are four nominees this year: Naeem Mohaiemen, Charlotte Prodger, Luke Willis Thompson, and the collective Forensic Architecture. In a statement, Tate Britain director and chair of the prize jury this year, described the nominees as ‘an outstanding group of artists, all of whom are tackling the most pressing political and humanitarian issues of today’. The nominees for the £40,000 prize will exhibit together in a group show at Tate Britain from September; the winner will be announced in December.

Abbas (1944–2018) | The photographer Abbas has died at the age of 74. Born in Iran, Abbas came to be one of the world’s best-known war photographers, covering conflicts and uprisings in Vietnam, the Middle East, Cuba, Northern Ireland, and several other countries. He covered the Iranian Revolution, producing the photojournal Iran Diary 1971–2002, and went on to document the spread of militant Islam across the Middle East.

Documenta names Sabine Schormann as new CEO | Financial executive Sabine Schormann has been appointed as the new CEO of Documenta. She will replace Wolfgang Orthmayr, who has been serving as interim CEO following the early departure of Annette Kulenkampff from the role in November last year. Schormann is currently the director of two foundations, Lower Saxony’s Sparkasse bank and VGH insurance; she will join Documenta this autumn.

Laura Aguilar (1959–2018) | American photographer Laura Aguilar, known for her portrait images of individuals from often marginalised groups such as Latina and lesbian communities, has died at the age of 58. Aguilar was recently the subject of the retrospective ‘Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell’, at the Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles (now on view at the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami), which featured her acclaimed Nineties nude self-portraits in arid desert landscapes.

Peter Bläuer retires from Liste art fair | The Liste art fair in Basel has announced the retirement of its founder and director Peter Bläuer. Bläuer has led the fair for 23 years; he will now become vice president of its board. ArtNews reports that this year’s edition of Liste will be run by a nonprofit foundation – yet to be identified – while a successor for Bläuer is sought.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art acquires two large collections | Bowdoin College Museum of Art today announced that it is the recipient of two sizeable private collections of art. One includes around 350 works from the estate of Marion Boulton ‘Kippy’ Stroud, founder of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia; the other comprises around 1,200 works by the painter and critic Walter Pach.