Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
THOMAS PRICE, Installation view of “As Sounds Turn to Noise,” 2023 (bronze, 110 3/8 inches high x 47 1/2 inches wide x 32 3/4 inches deep). | Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth, Photo: San Francisco Arts Commission
PUBLIC ART
Thomas Price Sculpture Debuts on San Francisco Waterfront
The Embarcadero promenade in San Francisco, Calif., is popular with joggers so it seems fitting that British artist Thomas J. Price‘s sculpture of a young woman outfitted in running attire is now installed on the waterfront. “As Sounds Turn to Noise” (2023) stands nine-feet high between Pier 1 and the Ferry Building. Price’s practice “amplifies the visibility of marginalized bodies and challenges our preconceived attitudes towards power and value.” The sculpture was initially featured last year in “Thomas Price: Beyond Measure” at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, the artist’s first comprehensive solo exhibition in the United States. The public art project is a partnership between the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Port of San Francisco. The bronze sculpture will be on view through January 2025. (7/9) | More
Art by 18 Artists Arriving at JFK Airport
The view in terms of art is increasingly improving at airports. Terminal 6 (T6) at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, N.Y., is the latest transportation hub to commission internationally renowned artists, represented in the collections of major museums, to make permanent artworks for its public spaces. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and JFK Millennium Partners (the company building and operating the $4.2 billion terminal) are collaborating with the Public Art Fund on the project. A $22 million budget has been designated for works by a diverse slate of 18 artists including Nina Chanel Abney, Candida Alverez, Teresita Fernandez, Charles Gaines, Sky Hopinka, Barbara Kruger, Kambui Olujimi, Uman, Dyani White Hawk and Haegue Yang, among others. The terminal is scheduled to open in 2026. (7/16) | New York Times
APPOINTMENTS
Judge for Major New Zealand Prize Announced
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung will judge The Walters Prize 2024. The recognition is considered the leading prize in contemporary art in Aotearoa New Zealand. Born in Cameroon, Ndikung is an international curator, writer, and former biotechnologist. He currently serves as director and chief curator of Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW, House of World Cultures) in Berlin, Germany, and was recently appointed chief curator for the 2025 São Paulo Biennial. In addition, Ndikung is head of faculty in the Spatial Strategies master’s program at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. Among his many other roles, in 2009, Ndikung founded and served as artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin. An exhibition of the four New Zealand artists nominated for The Walters Prize (Juliet Carpenter, Owen Connors, Brett Graham, Ana Iti) is on view at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (July 6-Oct. 20, 2024). The winner receives NZ $50,000 (about US $30,400) and will be announced in October. (7/6) | ArtDaily
MoAD Hired its First Chief Marketing Officer
The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco announced Genesis A. Emery-Foley joined the institution in the newly created role of chief marketing officer, effective July 1. MoAD said Emery-Foley brings 15 years of marketing, communications, and public relations experience to the position. A Chicago native, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021 and recently founded The Blueprint Haus Agency, a digital marketing agency. (7/16) | More
New CEO at Muhammad Ali Center
The board of directors of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky., selected DeVone Holt as its next president and CEO. He started earlier this month. Holt joins the Ali Center from Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, where he spent five years, most recently as chief external affairs officer. A native of Louisville, Holt shares a hometown with Ali and described his new role as “my dream job.” His background includes nearly 30 years of experience in the metropolitan area across public relations, brand management, government affairs, strategic communications and fundraising. In prior roles, he was national director of customer engagement for ResCare Workforce Services (2013-19) and special assistant to the Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools (2009-12). Holt also hosted and produced a local Saturday morning radio show for a decade. Established in 2005 by Lonnie and Muhammad Ali, The Ali Center honors the legacy of the boxing champion and humanitarian through exhibitions, educational programming, and community engagement with a focus on his six core principles (Spirituality, Conviction, Confidence, Dedication, Giving, and Respect). (7/9) | More
“I grew up in the same community where Muhammad Ali was raised and have a high regard for the six guiding principles that he used to establish his center. Being entrusted to manage the legacy of my personal hero while simultaneously helping other people pursue greatness is one of the highest honors I could receive. This is my dream job.” — DeVone Holt
AWARDS & HONORS
Black Rock Senegal Names 16 New Artists in Residence
Black Rock Senegal announced its 2024-25 artists in residence. The new cohort includes 16 emerging international artists: Abdel El Tayeb, Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, Anthony Akinbola, Bassirou Fall, Amadou Camara Guèye, Carlos Idun-Tawiah, Christina Kimeze, Elolo Bosoka, Imani Dennison, Mallory Mpoka, Matthew Eguavoen, Meng-Chan Yu, Natalie Baszile, Ranti Bam, Michela Tabaton-Osbourne, and Wezile Harmans. The fifth cycle of the residency program runs from September 2024 to June 2025 in Dakar, Senegal. (7/15) | More
LIVES
Founder of First Black Studies Program Died
A sociologist who identified as a Black nationalist, Nathan Hare died in San Francisco, Calif., on June 10 at the age of 93. As the Civil Rights Movement gave way to the Black Power era, Hare was a pioneering professor at odds with university administrators. In 1967, Hare lost his job at Howard University after publicly decrying the first Black president of the HBCU for his plan to admit more white students. Hare landed at San Francisco State University where a “minority” or “ethnic” studies program was under consideration. He joined and helped galvanize the Black Student Union’s opposition in favor of an academic program focused on Black studies. Over a heated five months, faculty members and students went on strike and protested, two presidents departed, and eventually an agreement was reached in 1969 that included the formation of a Black studies program led by Hare, the first such program in the nation. Shortly thereafter, Hare was fired over his view “that the department was not a traditional academic unit but a revolutionary tool,” according to the New York Times. Later that year, Hare co-founded The Black Scholar in Oakland, Calif. In 1975, he left the academic journal, over “a turn toward Marxism by the rest of the journal’s leadership, at the expense of Black nationalism.” The Black Scholar continues to be published today by Boston University. Hare went on to earn a Ph.D., in clinical psychology and worked in private practice.(6/21) | New York Times
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