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Art News | British Museum criticised for loaning artefacts

The British Museum has come under fire over plans to lend hundreds of significant artefacts from its permanent collection to an organisation in Abu Dhabi which has been accused of abusing the rights of workers.

It has been claimed that many of the migrant workers who have been recruited to help with the giant construction project for the Zayed National Museum have been housed in slums or deported for complaining about low wages. “The museums and other developments on Saadiyat Island are all being built on the back of a system of modern slavery,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

The list of treasures shortlisted for loan by the British Museum includes valuable Assyrian reliefs, Sasanian gold belt fittings, Greek and Roman jewels and Ming dynasty porcelain.

via The Independent

Art Exhibition | Two Roaming Beds

As Carsten Höller’s new exhibition prepares to open at the Hayward Gallery, Michael Glover questions whether a museum can really come alive at night in today’s The Independent.

Glover suggests that sleep and art have become ‘cosy bedfellows’, highlighting the fact that Grayson Perry’s new A House For Essex is available to rent for the weekend and that adult sleepovers can be booked at the British Museum.

Now visitors to the Hayward Gallery can book to stay the night in one of Holler’s roving beds as part of a new immersive installation, which could perhaps offer a night consisting of a “fruitful context for terror, mystery and all kinds of varieties of imaginative roaming.”

Two Roaming Beds is at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre from the 10-20 June.

via The Independent

Art News | Iran’s biggest art auction achieves a record high

Following news of a planned accord between Iran and the major world powers, the Iranian contemporary art market has shown signs of major improvement after a record auction.

Tehran Auction, the country’s biggest art auction, achieved a record high of IR210.4bn (€7.26m) this year, a 56% increase on last year’s sales. “This shows how much better people feel about the country’s developments and how their hopes have increased,” said Lili Golestan, director of the Golestan Gallery in Tehran.

A total of 126 pieces punched through the presale estimates of $3.8m-$5.2m, reflecting a growing optimism in the country. Golestan complained, however, that Iran’s art was still undervalued and largely unknown in the western world. “This auction in terms of quality is not lower than an exhibition like FIAC in Paris. But Iran’s art needs better marketing in the world so that prices can further go up.”

via Financial Times