Good Morning!
- Flash flooding in New York City forced the New Museum to close over the weekend.
- A third person has died in New York City’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, with Legionella bacteria found in the Met and Guggenheim.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s trademark leather jacket sold at Sotheby’s for $960,000, more than 15 times its high estimate.
The Headlines
WET. WET. WET. Flash flooding in New York City forced the New Museum to close over the weekend after water leaked into a gallery housing WangShui’s installation Oppose the Serpent (2024). VVideo shared with ARTnews showed water pooling on the floor as staff put buckets under leaks, though the museum said no artworks were damaged. The incident comes just months after the debut of the museum’s $82 million OMA-designed expansion, which faced criticism over unfinished construction details following its March opening. The museum closed early on Saturday and remained shut on Sunday as severe weather swept across the city.
OUTBREAK GROWS. A third person has died in New York City’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, with 74 people on Manhattan’s Upper East Side having fallen ill, the New York Post reported. Health officials have detected Legionella bacteria in cooling towers at 76 buildings, including the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. While investigators have not identified a single source, officials say new infections have slowed significantly after contaminated cooling towers were ordered to be cleaned and disinfected. The museums remain open as monitoring and remediation efforts continue.
The Digest
British artist Philip Colberthas installed 36 giant lobster sculptures among Pompeii’s ancient ruins, creating a surreal mash-up of pop art and Roman history inspired by a 2,000-year-old lobster mosaic found at the site. [The Times]
Dissident Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántarahas arrived in Miami on a US humanitarian visa after disappearing following his release from a five-year prison sentence in Cuba. [New York Times]
The FT looks inside Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen’s Labiomista project, which blends art, science, and animal conservation into a living laboratory. [FT]
The Minneapolis Institute of Art has appointed Kevin Tervala as its new chief of curatorial affairs and exhibitions, putting him in charge of the museum’s exhibition strategy and curatorial vision. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
JACKET JACKPOT. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s trademark leather jacket sold at Sotheby’s for $960,000 on July 17, more than 15 times its high estimate of $60,000. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Edge Institute, a venture capital-backed nonprofit that brings together figures from technology, science, culture, and society to explore ideas for the future.
