Following an investigation lasting more than three years, the final report concluded that the cause of the second blaze remained "undetermined". It said this was due to extensive damage and the destruction of evidence. - BBC
Dr. Emmanuel Masmejean, an orthopedic surgeon who claims to have operated on five victims of the 2015 terrorist attack, listed on the NFT sales platform OpenSea an x-ray image of a forearm with a Kalashnikov bullet lodged in it. He now faces legal and professional disciplinary action. - France 24
"'We are now at the very early stages of planning what this will look like,' says the museum's director, Agustín Arteaga." An architecture firm has been engaged to create a master plan and the city has been notified. - NBCDFW (The Dallas Morning News)
Today, barring the newish Halifax and Calgary central libraries (which opened in 2014 and 2018, respectively), one wonders whether the average Canadian could name a building constructed in the past thirty years the country could be proud of. - The Walrus
Typically this weeklong coagulation of art fairs in mid-February — dubbed Frieze Week — draws art makers, sellers, collectors and spectators from around the globe, which in turn spawns parties, performances, art talks and other Prosecco-infused art happenings citywide. - Los Angeles Times
Artificial intelligence (OK, not an actual "robot") is really, really good at identifying brushstrokes. "The researchers hypothesized that brushwork on a painting leaves behind a 'fingerprint' that largely lies beyond human powers of identification" - and they were correct. - Hyperallergic
To be clear, one has to be at the museum to experience survivors' personal stories in VR. But "pretty much across the board, viewing audiences have been moved by this in ways that they couldn’t have expected," says Illinois Holocaust Museum CEO Susan Abrams. - Fast Company
Stuart Eizenstat, who helped write the Washington Principles, is in an odd position. "The optics of his surfacing for the first time in a restitution case, not on the side of claimants, but of defendants, have surprised some experts in the field." - The New York Times
The reason isn't clear, but "in 2014, the Kansong fell into debt and has remained closed ever since. The museum has pushed its reopening dates several times, most recently announcing that it will open later in 2022." - Hyperallergic
Despite the United States’ status as an art market leader with a 42% share of the global pie today, the FBI Art Crime Team wasn’t founded until 2004. The small program crystallized in response to the looting of some 15,000 antiquities from the National Museum of Baghdad in April 2003. - Hyperallergic
"A German-Egyptian team of researchers, led by archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, discovered the artifacts half-submerged in water during their restoration of the funerary temple of the pharaoh and the Colossi of Memnon, two monumental statues in his likeness." - ARTnews
Bondil’s claim alleged the board “orchestrated, led, and continues to lead an intentional campaign of defamation and destruction of her reputation.” Now, the museum has walked back its criticisms of its former leader. - Artnet
The Standard-Bearer (1636) is being purchased from the Rothschild family via a trust in the Cook Islands which is owned by a holding company in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — this while the government's official policy is (supposed to be) to crack down on tax avoidance. - The Guardian
She painted the mural For The Women's House at the women's wing of the New York City prison complex back in 1971. She visited Riker's in 2019 and found the mural was in a spot where few people could see it, so she requested the transfer. - The New York Times
Strip away the diverting celebrity names, and what’s left is just a museum show of a corporate collection. Corporate art collections are not a rare thing — although this format is certainly unusual — but exhibitions of them at major museums are. - Los Angeles Times
