Experimental archaeologists Rick and Laura Brown have reconstructed the human-powered cranes that lifted huge objects during the Middle Ages and replicated the timber-framed roof of a destroyed 14th-century synagogue. Now they're leading a team using medieval tools and techniques to help repair the fire-ravaged Paris cathedral. - Smithsonian Magazine
Topping the list as usual is the Louvre, followed by the State Russian Museum (Mikhailovsky Palace) in St. Petersburg. (Where's the National Museum of China, generally no. 2 if not no. 1? The PRC hasn't yet provided figures for 2021.) - The Art Newspaper
As Abu Dhabi continues work on its starchitect-studded Saadiyat Island cultural district, Qatar is following suit with Lusail (designed by Herzog and de Meuron), the Qatar Auto Museum (OMA), and the Art Mill (Elemental) joining the National Museum (Jean Nouvel) and the Museum of Islamic Art (I.M. Pei). - ARTnews
Bihar’s Ministry of Education has pledged to provide 20,000 rupee ($260) to every primary school in the state for museum visits, with the money going towards transport, entry tickets and lunches. While the sum might not seem great, multiplied by the state’s 67,000 eligible schools, it amounts to more than $17.4m. - The Art Newspaper
"When a wealthy donor agrees to support an institution in return for naming rights, the lawyers increasingly draw up contracts with carefully worded 'morals clauses'. Such clauses 'allow an institution to protect themselves in the event of a donor falling from grace.'" - The Art Newspaper
"Located in the Khashabiyeh Mountains …, the shrine features two large standing stones carved with anthropomorphic figures, as well as an altar and hearth. The team also found almost 150 marine fossils and a small-scale model of a 'desert kite' trap used to capture and slaughter wild gazelles." - Smithsonian Magazine
Certainly, if you consider what’s currently happening in visual arts, it appears that we are in a major Surrealist revival. The most prominent bellwether is the Venice Biennale, which opens to the public on April 23. - Toronto Star
The project is expected to cost $400 million, with $250 million to renovate the pyramid Redwood Park and the Mark Twain Street located on the block. - SF YIMBY
Kelmscott Manor "was a place of huge inspiration for an artist who dramatically influenced fashions and ideologies with fabrics and furniture, stained glass and wallpaper still produced today." - The Guardian (UK)
Mostly. "The Sackler name would remain on a list of donors to the museum’s Great Court, because the museum 'has always recognized the important relationships we have with each of our benefactors.'" - The New York Times
Two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, artist George Butler took flights, busses, and other paths "to Odesa in southern Ukraine, where he stayed for a few days before continuing on an overnight train to Kyiv, at the heart of the conflict." - The Guardian (UK)
They're part of a nonprofit that helps provide NY artists "with places where they can work, a signature need for artists in a real estate market that has long pushed them to live in cavernous, defunct industrial spaces." - The New York Times
Cash-poor museums to generate money by selling nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Last year, NFTs, usually pegged to the high-flying but volatile Ethereum cryptocurrency, took the market for art and collectibles by storm, with sales estimated in the tens of billions. - The New York Times
For all intents and purposes, Rita and Jerry Alter were a totally normal couple living in the New Mexico suburbs—except for one thing. They had a stolen Willem de Kooning painting worth $160 million hanging behind their bedroom door. - Smithsonian
