ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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The Staffing System That Cripples Italian Museums

The effect of the national concorso system is that successful applicants may be placed somewhere geographically inconvenient or at odds with their own expertise. ‘You may have a collection of Renaissance art and you are sent a curator that specialises in performance art from the 1960s." - Apollo

Italy Gives Iraq Replica Of Ancient Bull Of Nimrud Destroyed By ISIS

"Italy has donated a reconstructed Assyrian statue to Iraq in what (was) described as a 'miracle of Italian cultural diplomacy'. Constructed in the ninth century BC, the 5-meter-tall Bull of Nimrud was destroyed by ISIS fighters in 2015; Italian artisans made a copy of the monument using 3D-printing technology." - The Art Newspaper

Tokyo’s Favorite High-Tech Art Collective Reopens Its Flagship Space, Now More Immersive Than Ever

When the group of "ultra-technologists" (as they describe themselves) called teamLab opened its flagship space in 2018, it drew 2.3 million visitors in its first year. That space, named Borderless, closed in 2022 for renovations and upgrades, has reopened to much excitement. - CNN

A New Fund Will Give $100,000 Unrestricted Grants To Artists

"Trellis Art Fund, a new private family foundation dedicated to funding artists’ practices, … will provide 12 recipients with $100,000 spread across two years. … Nominated by an anonymous board-selected group of 75 academics, artists, and curators based across the United States, the initial grant recipients will be announced in mid-July." - ARTnews

What A Plan To Save Churches Says About Their Place In UK Culture

Many churches are at risk of closure due to structural problems far beyond the capacity of local congregations to fix. - The Conversation

Stolen Chagall Is Recovered

The 1971 lithograph titled Eve was stolen from a Manhattan gallery last September. Now the NYPD says that two of the three suspects were apprehended in December and the piece was found and returned; the third suspect remains at large. - Artnet

The High-End Art Market Sagged Last Year. But Lower Down? Robust Growth

ArtTactic’s report states that the lower end of the market remained “very active, with an 18% increase in the number of artworks sold below $50,000” last year. - The Art Newspaper

A Billion-Dollar Art Collection That Has A Family Attacking One Another

Claims and counterclaims have spiraled across New York’s criminal, civil and family courts—sweeping in allegations of physical abuse, fraud and undue influence of the elderly. Ensuing trials and testimony from friends and family exposed generational rifts. - The Wall Street Journal

Whistler v. Ruskin, The Founding Litigation Of Modern Art

"To determine libel, the jury had to see his art. After the defense curated a viewing, the plaintiff, objecting to the dim courtroom venue, staged a second one offsite: cleanly hung, level, well lit. Out with Victorian cram, in with the white cube. Whistler won." - Hyperallergic

Museums Are Now Focus-Grouping Their Exhibitions

"Some of the world’s most renowned museums" — among them the British Museum, SF-MOMA, MFA Boston, and van Gogh Museum — "have been using the marketing research technique to fine-tune exhibitions, develop marketing materials and ensure they entice the broadest possible audience." - The New York Times

New Santa Barbara Museum Director Under Fire For Canceling Show, Dismissing Curator

The decisions by Amanda Cruz prompted a searing response from the affected artists, who called her actions “outrageous” and “appalling” and said they continued “Cruz’s pattern of controversial leadership.” - Santa Barbara Independent

Ghana’s Contemporary Art Scene, Both Home And Away

"Here was art that felt rooted in the country even as it was being sold abroad." - The New York Times

The British Museum Has Decided To Put Some Of Its Stolen Items On Display

Stolen - and recovered, that is. “They are made of stone or glass, variously coloured and tiny - often barely the size of a thumbnail. They are a fascinating window into the ancient Mediterranean world." - BBC

Warming Temperatures Shut Down Minneapolis Art Shanties After One ‘Zany’ Weekend

The story played out after the first gloriously thick ice weekend with increasingly dire warnings on Instagram, over text, and on the Art Shanties’ other official channels: The ice was only getting thinner, so “the artists, wearing life jackets, began dismantling huts one by one.” - The New York Times

Lisa Hunt, Who Transformed Gold Leaf In Her Art, Has Died At 55

Hunt "often marked her works with 24-karat gold leaf, which she attributed to the gilded artworks of the African diaspora, the Art Deco movement, and Austrian painter Gustav Klimt." - Hyperallergic

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