He took the helm of the Guggenheim in 2008, following the resignation of firebrand director Tom Krens. Only the fifth leader in the institution’s history, Armstrong inherited Krens’s ambitious expansion plans, which had seen the Bilbao outpost open in 1997 and the inking of a deal with Abu Dhabi. - Artnet
Oxford's Institute for Digital Archaeology has lidar-scanned some of the sculptures at the British Museum; its robot is now chiseling copies of them from Carrara marble; those copies would go to London as the originals returned to Athens. Not everyone is on board with this plan. - The New York Times
When Wesley Wofford's touring sculpture of Tubman stopped there this winter, it was wildly popular, and the city commissioned him to make a permanent version. Some Black artists are furious that they didn't even get to submit designs; officials say they can't just turn Wofford's idea over to someone else. - Artnet
"Like everyone else I felt a real pride that he'd come to Lowestoft and the surrounding area and done that (painted his artwork) because Lowestoft needs a bit of a boost. "So obviously we all felt a bit of a kick in the teeth when we thought someone had just said 'that's worth a lot of money, I'll just...
To Ms. Clegg’s dismay, the expert panel in Paris declared her Chagall to be fake, held onto it and now wants to destroy it. When she complained to Sotheby’s, the auction house said there was little it could do, saying its guarantee of authenticity was good only for a time. - The New York Times
The founder of the organization Whistleblower Aid says that the museum has "broken IRS rules, Michigan state laws; they've broken their employment policies, their own board policies, their own conflict of interest policies, their own whistleblower policies" and should not have its 10-year American Alliance of Museums accreditation renewed. - Artnet
"Recent data collected by Artnet from more than a dozen museums around the country suggests that attendance recovery has slowed, with some cultural institutions finding that audience levels have stagnated or dropped over the last year." - Artnet
The portrait these documents convey is of resourceful workers who roamed from the country’s sacred core to some of its most remote precincts gathering the materials to create enduring monuments that furthered their leader’s ambitions and stand as a testament to their skill and dedication. - Archeology
In cities around the globe – from Algiers, Auckland and Chicago to Hanoi, Mexico City and Seoul – research shows that transforming public spaces markedly affects the diversity of what people do in them, and whether they use them. - The Conversation
On Monday, their target was Constable's The Hay Wain at the National Gallery; on Tuesday, it was a 500-year-old student copy of Leonardo's The Last Supper. Last week, the young protesters from the group Just Stop Oil did the same thing with works in London, Manchester, and Glasgow. - The Guardian
It is neither practical, nor desirable, to keep erecting scaffolding. “Scaffolding can be intrusive. You have to attach it to the building and you don’t want to do that too often on a historic structure. It’s also demoralising for the public and fundraisers to see scaffolding.” Instead, the climbers are called in. - The Guardian
“They don't tell a story about me or my people, and it really makes me feel less-than because we are being represented by totem poles and teepees and that's just not who we are as Coast Salish people,” said Puyallup Council member Annette Bryan. - Crosscut
Reflecting on the row over the second rebuild plans he describes how an academic, from the school. Professor Ray McKenzie, had said publicly that it “should be left as a ruin” which was “unexpected and had shocked many”. - The Glasgow Herald
No longer must holiday fireworks look like either meteors or weeping willows. Pyrotechnicians can make the shells show smiley faces, words, and even dandelions and jellyfish (which are very cool). In an interview, pyrotechnician Mike Tockstein explains how these "patterned fireworks" are designed and made. - Salon
The redesign by landscape architect Bas Smets will include expanded plazas in front and in back of the cathedral; more plantings, including shade trees for queueing crowds, a new welcome center and museum, and a cooling system that will cover the pavement with a ¼-inch sheet of water. - The Guardian
