Appointments and Political Shifts Shape Global Art Institutions

Vasıf Kortun has been named the new director of the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum, which is currently being renovated and is set to reopen in 2020. Before this role, he led research at SALT Istanbul from 2011 to 2017 and founded the Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center in Istanbul between 2001 and 2010. He also co-curated the Istanbul Biennial alongside Charles Esche in both 1992 and 2005. Meanwhile, Tate in London has added three new curators: Nabila Abdel Nabi for Middle East and North African art, Osei Bonsu for African art, and Dr. Devika Singh for South Asian art. Fatima Hellberg will replace Michelle Cotton as director of Bonner Kunstverein, who moved to MUDAM in Luxembourg in April 2019. Italy's centrist coalition government has reappointed Dario Franceschini as culture minister, continuing policies that permit foreign nationals to run museums. Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, freed in a prisoner swap with Russia, expressed his desire to "make films and live" at a press conference on Tuesday. Renowned photographer Robert Frank, known for works such as The Americans and Cocksucker Blues, died on Tuesday.