Atena Farghadani.COURTESY YOUTUBE
Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has been sentenced to 12 years of prison for “insulting the parliament” and “insulting the Supreme Leader” for portraying politicians as animals. Farghadani was protesting the introduction of two bills which would make voluntary sterilization illegal and restrict access to birth control, respectively. [The Art Newspaper]
Due to the recent acquisition of a collection of works by John Singer Sargent, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will be creating a John Singer Sargent Archive, which will be held at the Forsythe Institute across from the museum. [Boston Globe]
As the New York City Opera is bankrupt, they are considering undergoing a reorganization in order to legally be able to accept millions of dollars from Pierre DeMenasce, who left 10 percent of his $70 million estate to the opera in his will. [Artforum]
Pierre Audi, founder of the Almeida Theater in London, has been named the new artistic director of the Park Avenue Armory. [Artforum]
Gareth Moore’s “A Burning Bag as a Smoke-Grey Lotus” at La Loge in Brussels. [Contemporary Art Daily]
Yesterday, MoMA staff protested healthcare cuts outside of the museum. [Hyperallergic]
The recently successful Tehran Auction indicates a recovering contemporary art market in Iran.[Financial Times]
Frida Kahlo won’t be the only artist with a show at the New York Botanical Garden: next Wednesday, the New York Botanical Garden and the Poetry Society of America will display light projections by Jenny Holzer in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for four nights. [New York Observer]