A LANDMARK MERGER RESHAPING ART TECH – AND THE INDUSTRY AT LARGE
Artlogic and ArtCloud, who have come to dominate the world of art tech, have announced that they will be joining forces. The CEO of ArtLogic, Mike Profit, has noted this as a marked point not just for the companies, but for the art community on the whole. Having offered similar services previously, by merging they now work with more than 6,000 galleries, artists, and users from across the world. With ArtCloud’s growing platform and Artlogic’s industry-leading inventory and website solutions, this collaboration can bring their shared mission to life; the two companies aim to facilitate “long-term growth and success for the art world via pioneering technology.” Alex West, CEO of Artcloud, has said, “Since founding an arts non-profit in 2004 and launching ArtCloud in 2015 with CTO Andrew Smith, our mission has been to empower galleries, artists, and the broader art world. Joining Artlogic is a natural evolution, allowing our 700-plus customers and more than 2,200 daily active users to continue using ArtCloud while accelerating the kind of meaningful change that once felt like it would take much longer to achieve.”
Alex West (CEO, ArtCloud) and Mike Profit (CEO, Artlogic)
FRENCH GOVERNMENT ADOPTS BILL FOR RESTITUTION OF COLONIAL ERA OBJECTS
Following Fresh president Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to return cultural items taken from former African colonies, a bill was presented on July 30 by culture minister Rachida Dati. The bill lays out the conditions under which the objects must fall under in order to be returned; for example, an item must be requested by a foreign state for deaccessioning to be considered, and it will only be approved if the object will be “preserved and exhibited to the public.” The circumstances under which the object came under the possession of France would also be assessed with the final round of approvals confirmed by a bilateral scientific committee. The Conseil d’Etat would then announce the restitution of the object. Objects that date from the Vienna Congress of June 1815 to April 1970 will be following these guidelines, while objects taken after 1972 will be taken to civil court. Since Macron’s announcement in 2017, a specific law has been adopted for individual restitution cases which has resulted in a slow, painstaking process. However, there are still complications ahead, particularly with regard to donations and legacies as these are usually protected against deaccessioning. For example, there are a number of African and Oceanic artefacts that were brought by missionaries, officers, and administrative staff on their return. There are also current pending restitutions from Algeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, and Mali.
HAUSER & WIRTH PALO ALTO TO OPEN
Mega gallery Hauser & Wirth have announced that it will be opening a new space in Palo Alto, complimenting their existing spaces in the Downtown LA Arts District and West Hollywood. The new 2,600 square foot location is set to open in Spring 2026. The new gallery will be designed by Luis Laplace, who have worked on previous projects with Hauser & Wirth and have award-winning experience in creating cultural spaces. Laplace have previously designed the gallery’s Paris location in a 19th-century hôtel particulier on the Right Bank. Marc Payot, President of Hauser & Wirth, has shared, “California—the defining role its artists, institutions, patrons, collectors and geographic attributes have played in the evolution of modern and contemporary art—has been integral to Hauser & Wirth’s vision and program since our founding more than three decades ago. Los Angeles, where we maintain important spaces in the Downtown Arts District and West Hollywood, is a globally recognized hub of cultural production and home to many of the exceptional artists we represent. But Northern California occupies an equally powerful position as home to a fantastically dedicated community of collectors and the museums they have built.”
Exterior view, the site of Hauser & Wirth Palo Alto, 2025
MIU MIU TO PRESENT EXHIBITION BY BRITISH ARTIST HELEN MARTEN AT ART BASEL PARIS 2025
Miu Miu will be the official partner of the Art Basel Paris public art program in 2025, with the fashion house debuting a new performance-based commission by British artist Helen Marten, titled 30 Blizzards. From October 22 – 26, the work will be staged at the Palais d’léna, marking Marten’s first live performance. 30 Blizzards is in collaboration with theatre and opera Fabio Cherstich and composer Beatrice Dillon, and will incorporate sculpture, video, and movement work. Across Marten’s practice, the artist works with a range of mediums, including sculpture, painting, and video. She explores themes of perception and language systems, juxtaposing materials like wood and steel with domestic objects. Marten was the recipient of the Turner Prize in 2016 and has also been exhibited at the 2013 and 2015 Venice Biennale, as well as the 2016 Biennale of Sydney. Her works can be found in a number of prominent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Tate in London.
Portrait of Helen Marten by Benedict Brink
OSCAR MURILLO’S TRANSNATIONAL CREATIVITY
A survey exhibition of Oscar Murillo’s works as opened at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico, titled ‘Espíritus en el pantano’ (Spirits in the Swamp). Murillo uses the wetland landscape as a metaphor to explore the collectivity of displaced communities. Murillo draws from his own experiences, having moved from La Paila in Colombia to London when he was a child, exploring themes of symbiosis within the swamp environment. The exhibition has been curated by MARCO director Taiyana Pimentel and includes a collectively drawn mural that museum visitors can add to a few days a week. Alongside this, there are two main installation pieces titled Mesmerizing Beauty (2025) and THEM (2012-24), which form meeting spaces that convey both a sense of community and a tinge of disjointedness. In Mesmerizing Beauty (2025), a set of chairs prop up a series of paintings, reminiscent of protest placards with their wooden supports. Human Resources (2017) is a video art piece showing a man performing Colombian cumbia songs to a group of mateos, traditional effigies burnt during New Years. Against a sterile backdrop of a fluorescently lit office space, a tension is created as the man sings to the portraits as if they were family or friends. Across the exhibition, this theme of transnational creativity forms an acute undercurrent, overcoming the rigidity of borders and bringing connection to the fractured.
Oscar Murillo, ‘Spirits in the Swamps’, 2025, exhibition view
TERESA SOLAR ABBOUD JOINS LEHMANN MAUPIN
Lehmann Maupin have announced its representation of Madrid-based artist Teresa Solar Abboud (b. 1985). Abboud’s practice incorporates sculpture, drawings, and videos that centre around themes of fiction, storytelling, natural history, ecology, and anatomy. Abboud explores dichotomies between the organic and the synthetic, interior and exterior, gestation and birth. With recent participation in the 59th Venice Biennale and solo exhibitions at CA2M in Madrid ad MACBA in Barcelona in 2024, Abboud has seen prominent institutional recognition over the last few years. In addition, the artist has an upcoming exhibition at Kunstverein Hannover in Germany, as well as a public sculpture commission for the Hayward Gallery in London. Lehmann Maupin is set to open a focused preview of Abboud’s works in New York next spring, with the inaugural exhibition set to open in London next September. The London show will also mark the artist’s first exhibition in the city. Rachel Lehmann, co-founder of Lehmann Maupin, has said, “As a gallery, we have a long history of championing artists who are pushing the limits of materiality and working in large scale formats, as well as giving artists their debut shows in new geographies. Teresa is truly an exceptional artist who is creating a new visual language through her visceral works, and we couldn’t be more excited to have her join our program. We look forward to presenting her first solo shows in London and New York in the coming years.”
Teresa Solar Abboud (b. 1985)
Jordan Tan holds an MA in History of Art from the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art. With a passion for fine art and the art market, Jordan plays a key role at Art Works by researching and interpreting trends across the primary and secondary markets, delivering valuable insights and business intelligence for the fine art department.
