Art Industry News: Pace Gallery Bucks the Crypto Crash Doomsayers by Launching a Major Partnership With a Top NFT Platform + Other Stories

Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Wednesday, June 8.

NEED-TO-READ

$360,000 Stolen in Yuga Labs’s Latest Server Breach – The NFT company Yuga Labs’s server was compromised in yet another a phishing attack on Saturday, which resulted in the theft of $360,000 (200 ETH) worth of NFTs. The Discord account of a Bored Ape Yacht Club employee was hacked and used to post phishing links in official channels associated with the NFT community. This is the third time that Yuga Labs has been hacked in recent months. (ARTnews)

German Culture Minister Visits Ukraine – Claudia Roth visited Odessa, where a memorial will be installed with German support to commemorate the atrocious crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II in Ukraine. Her visit, on the invitation of the Ukrainian Minister of Culture, Oleksandr Tkachenko, was to acknowledge Germany’s special role in raising awareness about the current dangers to culture in the present war. (Monopol)

Pace Teams Up With Art Blocks – What crypto crash? Pace is continuing its push into Web3 with a partnership with NFT platform Art Blocks. The two companies hope to gain access to one another’s very divergent collector bases. The collaboration will also provide Pace artists and a select group of digitally native artists with access to Art Blocks’s technology. The NFT company, which focuses on generative art (art that is minted when the collector buys it) made $500 million in transactions alone last August. The first collaborative release is a new NFT project by John Gerrard. (ARTnews)

Artist Jacques Villeglé Dies at 96 – The French artist, who was known for using torn posters found on the street to create his influential mixed media collages, died at 96, according to an announcement by his Paris gallery. Villeglé was the last living figure associated with Nouveau Réalisme, a French avant-garde movement that sprung up in the late 1950s that sought to merge life and art. (ARTnews)

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Galerie König Announces Its First Partner – Laura Attanasio, a senior director at König, will become a the multi-city gallery’s first partner this month. Attanasio has worked closely over the years with artists Alicja Kwade, Claudia Comte, and Katharina Grosse. (Press release)

The Kitchen Partners With the Armory Show – The nonprofit space will have a stand at the upcoming Armory Show to showcase little-known works from its archive as it embarks on a major renovation. The collaboration is the latest in a series of collaborations under the fair’s Cultural Partners program, which spotlights non-commercial art spaces in New York. (The Art Newspaper)

Xavier Hufkens Now Represents the Milton Avery Estate – The Brussels-based gallery will present work by the late American artist at its Art Basel booth next week. The estate of Milton Avery, works focus on moments of domestic intimacy and the natural world, will continue to be represented by Victoria Miro in London. (Press release) 

Seattle Art Museum Appoints Deputy Director for Art – José Carlos Diaz succeeds Chiyo Ishikawa, who retired in 2020. Diaz, who specializes in contemporary art and multidisciplinary programming, previously served as chief curator at the Pittsburgh-based Andy Warhol Museum. (Press release)

FOR ART’S SAKE

Getty Commissions Judy Baca for New Mural – The artist will create a 14-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide mural called La Salsera, depicting a salsa dancer joining the daily procession of domestic workers catching a bus at MacArthur Park. The female figure is filled with monarch butterflies, a symbol of immigrants. The work will be created digitally and painted on glass. Baca’s exhibition “Hitting the Wall” is on view at the Getty until September 4. (Press release)

Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.