"Some of it is – and more will be – sited below ground. There is no single clear reason for this, though factors include the exigent climate, respect for that polite skyline, and the key part that open space plays as amenity, in the city as in the overwhelmingly forested country." - Apollo
This week, Ittai Gradel, a Dutch antiquities dealer, said he had told the British Museum about the thefts two years ago and claimed that his allegations had gone unheeded. Fischer previously claimed that he took Gradel’s allegations “seriously.” In a statement issued on Friday, Fischer changed his tune. - ARTnews
No announcement has been made, and the current president remains eligible for a second contract term. Nevertheless, several Italian newspapers report that author/broadcaster Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, a lifelong friend of the new culture minister with no management experience, is the leading candidate. - Artnet
“We’ve lost four museums. If you’re into environmentalism, if you’re into surfing, if you’re into history, something was lost in all those ways.” - Artnet
"The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced on Tuesday that it has exceeded the $750-million goal set for its fundraising campaign for a new building — the David Geffen Galleries, designed by architect Peter Zumthor. … Reaching its final goal has been a long road for LACMA." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The Carabinieri have identified two German tourists in their early 20s as the alleged culprits who spray-painted letters and numbers associated with a Munich soccer team on columns of the Vasari Corridor, a covered passageway connecting two historic palaces. - AP
The Wildensteins' business goes back five generations and 150 years; family members have always been secretive, even by art-world standards. But a lawsuit by a disinherited widow has uncovered what a prosecutor alleged is "the longest and most sophisticated tax fraud" in modern French history. - The New York Times Magazine
Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is replacing the directors at the country's landmark museums — a number of which, such as the Uffizi, have highly professional but non-Italian directors. In the wake of changes at the national broadcaster, some cultural leaders worry about a return of Mussolini-style policies. - MSN (The Washington Post)
According to the PA news agency, the missing items are believed to have been taken over a "significant" period of time. Some of them reportedly ended up on eBay, being sold for considerably less than their actual estimated value. - BBC
Creating interactions in public space turns the urban space into a playful and social venue that could attract residents of all ages. However, there are challenges when designing interactive urban installations. - The Conversation
As was the case with the professor, photos uploaded to Christie’s oftentimes include GPS coordinates for where they were taken; those coordinates are so precise that they reveal not just a street address but can even indicate within a few feet exactly where inside a building a photo was taken. - Washington Post
A Chinese Min dynasty vase, valued at more than £2 million, was stolen in Geneva in 2019 by an international art theft ring that thought, so the UK's Metropolitan police say, that law enforcement couldn't cooperate internationally. Whoops! - The Guardian (UK)
Michael Barzman, after first lying to the FBI, "eventually admitted involved working with an associate to create between 20 and 30 fake pieces that were promoted for sale as if they were genuine." - The New York Times
