Protestors have demanded Congress stop a bill limiting tribal nations’ sovereignty over historic sites, the Art Newspaper reports. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which was proposed in the Senate on 30 September, is largely concerned with energy and natural resources but also contains two sections that propose amendments to the National Heritage Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 – legislation that requires the federal government to work with states and tribal nations to determine how federal projects affect sites of cultural importance. The bill would limit what constitutes a site of historic importance, which would exempt certain sites or projects from protection under Section 106 of the NHPA. The bill would also make consultation with tribal organisations discretionary rather than mandatory; impose 30-day deadlines on Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs) to respond to federal agencies engaging in consultation; and subject THPOs to federal review every two years. Reuters reports that the Senate will take up amendments and vote on the bill next week.
Art Basel has offered a 20 per cent discount to participating galleries after the Paris edition of the fair closed two days early, the Art Newspaper reports. Art Basel Paris was due to run from 23–25 October but closed on the evening of Friday 23, ahead of demonstrations about the cost of living called for the next day.
A gold-coloured bronze sculpture by Jean Arp was stolen from a booth at Art Cologne on 8 November, ArtNews reports. S’élevant (‘Rising’), a 30cm-high biomorphic sculpture priced at €145,000, disappeared from Gallery Ludorff’s stand on the last day of the fair. ‘There were four employees at the stand that day and the sculpture wasn’t particularly small or light,’ Maya Hanke, PR manager at the Düsseldorf-based gallery, told ArtNews, who criticised the fair’s security measures. ‘The way the person managed to leave the exhibition grounds without anyone noticing remains unclear to us.’ Art Cologne has not responded to her comments.
Museums in Sweden have returned 39 statues and sculptures looted by British troops to Nigeria, the Art Newspaper reports. The objects were among the thousands stolen by British forces during a punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, and include wooden and ivory sculptures as well as a number of Benin Bronzes. Sweden’s National Museums of World Culture (SMVK) has now formally returned the artefacts to Nigeria and six of them will remain on loan to the SMVK for ten years. The SMVK has also handed over 77 objects looted from a Bolivian village in the 1970s to the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz.
