ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

VISUAL

Emergency Action: Brooklyn Museum To Cut Ten Percent Of Staff

In addition to the layoffs, officials said that senior leadership will take salary cuts of 10 to 20 percent; the annual number of exhibitions would be reduced to an average of nine from an average of 12; and weeknight events with low attendance or inconsistent funding would be canceled. - The New York Times

Time To Start Charging Admission At UK Museums?

"We charge tourists to visit Westminster Abbey, a West End musical or the National Theatre. What’s so different, morally or culturally, about charging for entry to the Tate galleries — especially when they are millions of pounds in the red?" - The Times

One Of Luis Barragán’s Greatest Buildings Will Reopen As Cultural Center

"Architect and philanthropist Fernando Romero purchased La Cuadra San Cristóbal, a historic, hot pink estate on the outskirts of Mexico City last year though his nonprofit, Fundación Fernando Romero, and will open it to the public this fall." - Artnet

Christie’s Pulls El Greco From Auction At Request Of Romanian Government

The painting, which depicts the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, had been in the collection of the Romanian monarchy. The country's postwar government "allegedly" had "transferred" the work to the deposed King Michael, who sold it in 1976; Romania's current government maintains that it is still national property. - Artnet

As New York’s Larger Galleries Struggle, There’s A Surge In New Small Galleries

A range of tiny galleries have opened in Downtown New York since the onset of Covid, filling basement spaces, dingy storefronts, and one-room units in office buildings. It feels like an experimental spirit has finally begun to return to a city whose scene has felt overly safe as of late. - ARTnews

Restoring 20-Foot-Tall Rubens Paintings Is Quite A Workout

They can't even bring paintings that size to the conservation studio; the studio has to be brought to the paintings. So the conservators are doing this enormous, strenuous job at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp in full view of visitors. And those visitors have opinions. - AP

Architects’ Growth Business: Data Centers

It’s a subset of the architecture business that has surged in recent years. During the Covid pandemic, the demand for cloud-based online services from Zoom calls to streaming movies caused a spike in data center construction. “Now we’re seeing another jump in growth because of AI and machine learning coming on board.” - Fast Company

UNESCO Has Completed Reconstruction Of Historic Landmarks In Mosul

The $144 million project was to rebuild the Great Mosque of Al-Nouri and other structures in Mosul's old city which were destroyed during the three-year occupation of the area by ISIS. - Deutsche Welle

Harvard Art Museums Receive Major Gift Of Edvard Munch Works

The bequest by the late collectors Lynn and Phillip Straus includes two paintings and 62 prints — raising the total number of Munch works given over the years by the Strauses to Harvard to 117. - ARTnews

Concern Over Video Of Workers Hammering Stones On Egypts Pyramids

After video of a worker using a hammer, chisel, and other tools on the stones of the Great Pyramid of Giza went viral on social media last November, outrage about the incident has grown to include a statement in Egyptian Parliament and one Egyptologist claiming “mismanagement.” - ARTnews

Art Collector Who Bought $6.2 Million Banana Sues David Geffen Over Giacometti

Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency mogul who earned international notoriety when he purchased Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian (the banana duct-taped to a wall) and ate it, claims that an art adviser forged his signature and fraudulently sold to Geffen Giacometti's Le Nez. Geffen's attorney calls the suit "bizarre and baseless." - The New York Times

Researchers Discover Portrait Hidden Beneath Titian’s “Ecce Homo”

"The newly discovered work shows an unidentified man with a thin moustache, quill in hand, standing next to a stack of papers or books — a prosaic image compared to the scene of Jesus Christ, bound and wearing a crown of thorns, that Titian later painted over it." - Reuters

Wales’ National Museum Closes Indefinitely For Repairs

The closure comes nine months after Wales' Culture Secretary assured the historic building would remain open, despite concerns from the museum's director over its deteriorating condition. - BBC

Trump’s Threatened Tariffs Throw Gallery Owners Into Uncertainty

For both galleries in Mexico and those traveling to Mexico City to participate in the city’s three fairs—Zona Maco, Material, and Salón Acme—there appears to be both worry and uncertainty over what effect the impending tariffs might have on collectors’ purchasing behavior, if any, or what costs galleries will have to absorb. - ARTnews

Chrysler Building Has Been Repossessed by Cooper Union

The art/architecture/engineering school, which owns the land under the midtown Manhattan landmark 35 blocks uptown, had been leasing the building to real estate developer RFR Holdings, which fell $21 million behind on the rent. - Curbed (MSN)

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');