Josh Kline Critiques US Art Scene, Kolbe Fountain Auctioned, Russian Museum Director Flees

Key facts

• Josh Kline critiques the US art scene in October, calling it "sick with problems" and New York a central issue due to rents, inequality, and market logic.
• Kline advocates for industry critique over institutional critique, addressing class and power, and suggests young artists leave New York.
• Jenny Wu in ArtReview finds Kline's vision unrealistic and warns it underestimates late capitalism's structural logic.
• Georg Kolbe's "Tänzerinnen-Brunnen" will be auctioned at Grisebach in June with an estimate up to €1.5 million after restitution to heirs of Jewish former owner Heinrich Stahl.
• The fountain was created in 1922, confiscated during the Nazi regime, and Stahl died in Theresienstadt.
• The Kunsthaus Zürich reopens the Bührle Collection amid concerns over Nazi-looted art, with a five-year reappraisal planned after insufficient provenance research.
• Museum director Ann Demeester states research will run parallel to the display, avoiding a five-year interim exhibition.
• Russian museum director Nailja Allachwerdijewa left Russia in late 2024 after an ultimatum, describing constant fear management and indirect censorship in her work at PERMM.
• Critics like Marat Guelman view adaptations to repression as unacceptable, while others see them as necessary.
• German Vogue profiles five emerging artists in Germany: Selma Laura Köran, Marta Dyachenko, Rebekka Benzenberg, Nicole L’Huillier, and Olga Hohmann, highlighting diverse and political contemporary positions.