How Do You Save UK Churches? An annual survey of churches in the UK shows that many are being shut and abandoned. "One survey estimates that the rate of newly redundant churches will double to 60 a year, as a result of dwindling attendance and changing centres of population." So what can be done with the buildings? "Centuries ago the naves of many churches were used as meeting halls, as places where local business took place, or simply where people went on a daily basis to gossip and exchange views. 'I see no reason why the naves of many churches cannot function in the same way today - almost as a parish hall. Let us let the people back in'." The Guardian (UK) 12/31/04

Experts Warn Of Fake Bible-Era Objects After important Bible-era fakes were proven so in an Israeli museum, experts have sent out a call to other museums to be on the lookout for more. "Scholars said the forgers were exploiting the deep emotional need of Jews and Christians to find physical evidence to reinforce their faith. 'This does not discredit the profession. It discredits unscrupulous dealers and collectors'." CNN (AP) 12/30/04

• Art Of The Fake How do you make fake ancient religious objects good enough to fool experts? It's not really so difficult... Slate 12/30/04

Why Ruskin Might Have Faked Turner Bonfire Why would famed art critic John Ruskin claim to have made a bonfire of JMW Turner drawings if he didn't? "In an essay in the British Art Journal Ian Warrell argued that there are many reasons why Ruskin might have claimed the destruction: his undoubted utter shock at the discovery that his hero had feet and other working body parts of clay; his dismay at the scandalous allegations in a biography of Turner he had backed; and, crucially, the introduction of the first Obscene Publications Act of 1857, which provoked paranoia about art images and anxiety that curators could be prosecuted for works in gallery collections." The Guardian (UK) 12/31/04

• Previously: Claim: Ruskin's Turner Bonfire Never Happened John Ruskin famously said he had made a bonfire of a pile of JMW Turner's paintings. But a researchers now says it never happened. "It looks as if the notoriously prudish Ruskin, who worshipped Turner to the point of idolatry, could not bring himself to destroy his work. Instead he buried them in paper, interring them in a tortuous numbering system he devised himself, or in the case of some detailed anatomical details of women's genitals, folding over the page to conceal them, undoubtedly with a shudder of revulsion." The Guardian (UK) 12/29/04

Victoria And Albert Museum Hit By Robbers (It's The Third Time) For the third time in three months, the Victoria & Albert Museum has been hit by robbers. "The museum authorities disclosed yesterday that a series of Italian Renaissance bronze plaquettes, worth about £500,000, were stolen on Wednesday. The theft is the largest of the three robberies and a big embarrassment for the V&A, which, The Times revealed last month, has been severely criticised for its lax security." The Times (UK) 12/31/04

The Big Business Of Investing In Art "With its yearly sales now reaching an estimated $10 billion in the United States alone, art has quite literally become big business. While money invested in the stock market's S&P 500 Index -- a conservative bet on Wall Street's top 500 companies -- has earned an annualized 11 percent return over the past decade, that same money sunk into the contemporary art market would have produced a whopping 29 percent return." Miami New Times 12/30/04

Helping Britain's Abused Public Art A new award is being launched in Britain for public sculpture. It's intended to focus good will on the country's public art - much of which has been vandalized or neglected. "The background is a dismal inventory, gradually being revealed as the association compiles a national register of all the public sculptures in the UK, of the ignored, abused or trashed works of art scattered across the country." The Guardian (UK) 12/30/04

LA Man Arrested In Art Scam An LA man has been arrested for selling fake art attributed to artists such as Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall and Roy Lichtenstein." A 66-year-old Mission Viejo doctor managed to generate interest among potential buyers in his collection, primarily of modern masters — a collection that turned out to be bogus." Los Angeles Times 12/29/04

UK Museums - Free But They Still Cost Museum visits in the UK have soared since ticket charges were dropped. "The figures show that three years after the turnstiles were removed, visitors to galleries that used to charge have soared. There were nearly six million more visits this year than in the year before entry charges were scrapped. In London, visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) are up by 113 per cent over the past three years, the Natural History Museum is up by nearly 96 per cent and the Science Museum by nearly 71 per cent." But who's to pay for keeping the doors open? The Independent (UK) 12/29/04

2004 Looked A Lot Like 1954 With so much exciting new art in the world, not to mention the emergence of technology-based art, why did the old and familiar continue to dominate at North America's biggest museums in 2004? "A youth movement? As if. The biggest news in the art-auction world — often confused with real art-making, or the real world for that matter — was that sale prices by the likes of Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns, artists in their prime way more than 50 years ago, have finally caught up with the mega-bucks sales by the Impressionists... The problem is no one really wants to be on edge. In this country, art is treated like comfort food for the brain." Toronto Star 12/28/04

Cooperation = Success Canadian museums have been struggling in recent years to create exhibitions that will both generate an immediate buzz and have the longevity to make their mounting worthwhile financially. In 2004, a number of major exhibitions hit the mark, and the key to future successes may be in the trans-Atlantic partnerships which were forged this year. By joining forces with European institutions, Canadian museums "were able to split the costs of research and development of the loan list, the shipping, the catalogue production and a host of other costs that could have sunk the exhibition." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/29/04

Is Progress Killing The Boutique Museum? Can museums based on one person's vision really survive effectively once that one person is no longer around? The Barnes Museum's pending move is only the latest in a long line of single-collector museums struggles to stay relevant (and solvent), and one could question whether total reinvention is really an effective tool. "Every museum doesn't have to be a major tourist attraction, and people who really want to see the Barnes usually can, with some planning. Some museums -- the Miho outside Kyoto for one -- are valued in part because of the sheer challenge of reaching them, which becomes a sort of pilgrimage." Boston Globe 12/29/04

Claim: Ruskin's Turner Bonfire Never Happened John Ruskin famously said he had made a bonfire of a pile of JMW Turner's paintings. But a researchers now says it never happened. "It looks as if the notoriously prudish Ruskin, who worshipped Turner to the point of idolatry, could not bring himself to destroy his work. Instead he buried them in paper, interring them in a tortuous numbering system he devised himself, or in the case of some detailed anatomical details of women's genitals, folding over the page to conceal them, undoubtedly with a shudder of revulsion." The Guardian (UK) 12/29/04

UK Museums' Popularity Due To Free Admissions, Lottery Visits to UK museums were up again last year, and the government attributes increases to its policy of making museums free to the public. "Curiously, visits to museums that used to charge went up by only 1.7% while visits to those that had never charged shot up by 11.4%. Among the successes of the "always free" museums is the National Gallery in London, which increased visitors (after a couple of poor years) by 14% last year to 4.96m. It has moved ahead of the British Museum (4.8m) to become Britain's most popular museum." The Guardian (UK) 12/29/04

Scream: Arrest In Munch Theft Norwegian police have made an arrest in the theft of two Munch paintings last summer from Oslo's Munch Museum. "An unnamed 37-year-old man has been charged with the robbery, after being taken in for questioning last week. He denies any involvement and claims to have an alibi." The Guardian (UK) 12/28/04

In Praise Of The Parking Garage "Like all buildings, a parking garage can either bring vitality to a city or suck the energy right out of it. There is, of course, the eyesore garage we all know and despise, the three-dimensional cash station for the garage owner that assaults passersby with crumbling concrete and stark fluorescent lights. Yet there also are parking garages with ground-floor shops that enliven sidewalks, and facades that acknowledge that people look at garages as well as drive into them." Chicago Tribune 12/28/04

Romania's HellHouse Of Contemporary Art Romania has a new museum of contemporary art in a giant palace built by dictator Nikolai Ceausescu. "The building is monstrous, a megalomaniacal blend of baroque, neo-Gothic and modernism, sprawling over the middle of Bucharest. Its cruel facade is lined with row upon row of windows: Romanians call them "the big eye of Ceausescu". The critic Ami Barik, meanwhile, describes the Palace as "architectural pornography ... meant to exhibit the organs of power in colossal erection". Twenty per cent of the city, including some of its oldest churches, was torn down to make way for it. Workers died in near-forced labour conditions; others are said to have been killed to protect its secrets. No wonder Bucharest's inhabitants view the House/Palace with a respect tinged with bitterness." The Guardian (UK) 12/28/04

Record Numbers To UK Museums In 2004 - Is This Good? Britons flocked to UK museums this year - "6 million more people passed through their doors, bringing the overall increase since admission charges were ditched for important national collections to 75%. Yesterday, the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, called the figures "incredible", and promised that free admission would continue to be a cornerstone of government policy. However, the Art Fund charity warned that the spectacular increase may prove "a hollow victory" without proper compensation for museums that formerly charged or adequate funds for museums that never charged but have lost out badly in recent spending rounds." The Guardian (UK) 12/27/04

Are The Barnes' Plans Reasonable? The decision to allow the Barnes Collection to move to Philadelphia is just the beginning of a long process. And are the Barnes' projections realistic? "The Barnes has budgeted $150 million to build a 120,000- to 150,000-square-foot building, to move into it, and to create an endowment." Some experts question the plan: "All of the numbers are perfectly reasonable, but all are at the optimistic end of the scale of reasonable. Together in combination, the overall outcome is unreasonable. So the Barnes must either raise more than $150 million up front, or scale back its plans. That would require some tough, tough choices." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/27/04

The Video Game And The Painting (What You Can Learn) A new video game that combines PacMan with a Mondrian painting has caught the attention of the art world. "Why is Pac-Mondrian attracting more art types than gaming types? Maybe it's because Pac-Mondrian has more to say about Mondrian's painting than about Pac-Man. In fact, it qualifies as a coherent interpretation of "Broadway Boogie Woogie." The inventors don't say so, but if you play the game you'll probably discover some features of the painting that you never knew were there, and some that aren't there at all." The New York Times 12/27/04

Swiss Parliament Punishes For Critical Exhibition Members of the Swiss parliament are furious over an art exhibit at the Swiss Cultural Center in Paris that criticizes democracy in Switzerland and attacks the country's minister of justice and police. "Last week, after 10 days of furious debate, the Swiss Parliament slashed $1.1 million from the $38.9 million annual budget of Pro Helvetia, the government-financed cultural foundation that owns the Swiss Cultural Center. Legislators on the right also demanded the resignation of Michel Ritter, the center's director, who invited Mr. Hirschhorn to show his work here." The New York Times 12/27/04

Israel Museum's Prized Pomegranate Is Fake "The Israel Museum has discovered that the most important item in its priceless collection of biblical antiquities is a fake. An ivory pomegranate originally thought to have adorned a sceptre carried by the high priest in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem is to be withdrawn from public exhibition. The withdrawal of the pomegranate, which was on display during an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization last year, is the latest in a series of embarrassing scandals which have rocked the quiet but high-spending world of antiquities collectors." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/27/04

A New Weapon For Tracking Art Thieves New software will soon make it possible for investigators to instantly check whether a piece of art in front of them is stolen. "With Derdack's software, investigators can take a photo of a suspicious painting with a cellphone or a personal digital assistant, send it wirelessly by GPRS or UMTS networks to international databases of stolen art and make a match - within seconds." International Herald Tribune 12/27/04

Group Portrait - Seeking Answers About Rembrandt A new exhibition puts 17 Rembrandts together for the first time. "Loans have come from museums and private collections in the United States and abroad, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the apostles, Rembrandt painted hermits and a number of the evangelists." The New York Times 12/24/04

Norwegian Police Interrogate "Scream" Suspect Norwegian police have questioned their first suspect in the theft of two Much paintings last summer. "The man was released without charge on Thursday, but is still considered a suspect, police said." BBC 12/23/04

Court Victory For Family Seeking Nazi-Looted Art "A Canadian family scored a major legal victory yesterday when a judge in the Czech Republic agreed that they should gain possession of a valuable art collection -- believed to be worth millions of dollars -- assembled by their Jewish grandfather, then later confiscated by the Nazis and the Communists... [T]he decision, which will be issued in writing late next month, will likely be appealed. That appeal could take more than a year, with the case possibly going as far as the Czech Republic's Supreme Court. As a result, it might be as late as 2008 before the collection ends up on Canadian soil, if ever." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/23/04

Texas-Sizing Your Museum "The Dallas Museum of Art has suffered growing pains. Back-to-back expansions of the downtown building, the last ending in 1993, left more space than art to fill it. Recently, it's had the opposite problem. The contemporary collection has snowballed since director John R. 'Jack' Lane's arrival in 1999, but the Contemporary Art Galleries weren't designed for the kind of big works being done today, many of which include films or videos with noisy soundtracks." But now, with a major renovation just completed, DMA may finally have a space that fits its collection. Dallas Morning News 12/23/04

Will Saatchi Sell His Shark? Collector Charles Saatchi is mulling a £6.25 million offer for the massive tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde which he commissioned from artist Damien Hirst in 1991 for £50,000. The shark, one of the early works of the movement known as BritArt, "propelled Hirst to fame after it was first shown in 1992." BBC 12/23/04

African Art Museum Relocating To Harlem "Officials at the Museum for African Art, located in Long Island City, expect to break ground on a new $50-million, three-story building in Harlem early next year. The move will return the 21-year-old museum to its Manhattan roots after a two-year absence and help bolster Harlem's appeal as a cultural destination..." Newsday 12/22/04

The Next Step In Analyzing Art? We depend on computers to analyze many things. Why not art? Researchers have "digitally scanned artworks into a computer, and then used image-processing techniques to create statistics describing the pen and brush strokes. Like a connoisseur - a blend of Bernard Berenson and HAL - the computer analysis detected subtle differences in these strokes that might help distinguish an artist from an imitator." The New York Times 12/23/04

Art vs. Neighborhood In Toronto "Opponents of the Art Gallery of Ontario's plans for a $195 million expansion designed by Frank Gehry are taking their fight to the Ontario Municipal Board. Five or six appeals have been filed, all asking the OMB to overturn the decision of Toronto City Council to approve the gallery's so-called transformation... [T]he dissidents claim the Gehry project would ruin Grange Park and destroy their neighbourhood." At issue is a 15-year-old pledge by the AGO that it would never again expand on the Grange Park site, a promise which paved the way for neighborhood approval of an earlier expansion. Toronto Star 12/22/04

Art Of The Fake Smithsonian anthropologist Jane Walsh is working on a database to help identify fakes. There are many more in museum collections than anyone is willing to admit. "Any museum--I don't care what museum it is--has fakes, because fakes are ubiquitous. I have a friend who works at the Holocaust Museum as a conservator, and even they have forgeries--Star of David badges and prison uniforms that were made for Hollywood films and later sold by dealers as authentic artifacts.
Archaeology Magazine 12/04

The Man To Save The Royal Academy Why does Nicholas Grimshaw have a chance at turning around the fortunes of London's Royal Academy? "He brings more than enthusiasm. As a respected architect, best known here for designing the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo Station, Mr. Grimshaw is already more of a public figure than his three predecessors. Further, unlike the artists who make up most of the academy, he knows how to run a business, in his case a 100-member firm with offices in London, New York and Melbourne, Australia. There is also a vacuum waiting to be filled." The New York Times 12/22/04

Whole Lotta Bull For Sale Fifteen years ago a 7000-pound bronze charging bull mysteriously appeared on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange. Now the artist who made it wants to sell, and bidding begins at $5 million. The sculpture is much beloved on the street and the artist insists "that any deal would require the buyer to donate the landmark sculpture to New York City, with the new owner's name inscribed on a plaque to be placed next to it. The buyer would be allowed a tax deduction." Seattle Times (AP) 12/21/04

Guggenheim Cancels Major Cezanne Show The Guggenheim has canceled a major Cezanne show, due to open in Februarybecause it says it was unable to secure loans for some of the work. The show, Cézanne: The Dawn of Modern Art, explores the painter’s impact on artists like Matisse, Picasso and Braque. It is currently on tour in Europe. Crain's New York Business 12/21/04

Will China Rule The (Art) World? Chinese art has been a hot sell this year, with millions racked up at recent auctions. "But does all this mean that the new rich of mainland China are about to take the international art market by storm and that Sotheby's and Christie's will soon be holding sales in Beijing and Shanghai? The reality, as with most things in this vast, complex nation, is much more complicated.." The Telegraph (UK) 12/21/04

Germany Demands Russian Rubens "Germany renewed its demand last night for the return from Moscow of a priceless Rubens oil painting that mysteriously vanished during the second world war. The Russian businessman who is refusing to give it back was threatened with legal action." The Guardian (UK) 12/21/04

The New Gateshead Norman Foster's latest project opens. "The Sage Gateshead, a £70m performing arts centre on the banks of the Tyne, opened yesterday. Its three music venues are shrouded by a vast and billowing steel-and-glass roof that resembles either a bank of low-lying cumulus clouds hugging the river, or the gun-blisters of a second world war RAF bomber." The Guardian (UK) 12/18/04

• Norman Foster's Garden (A Gallery) Norman Foster has had a great couple of years. Through a series of high profile public buildings, he has altered Britain'slandscape. Here's a gallery... The Guardian (UK) 12/18/04

Berlin's Holocaust Memorial Close To Opening Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial in Berlin is nearing completion. "Germany's largest memorial to the Holocaust into position, certainly had his problems. But despite everything, his design, spreading over nearly five acres of central Berlin, promises to be one of Europe's most extraordinary pieces of architecture. A spectacle that defies the spectacular." The Observer (UK) 12/19/04

Bush Portrait Brings Notoriety To Artist Artist Chris Savido is pondering his new fame. Since his portrait of George W. Bush composed of monkeys offended a Bush supporter who shut down the New York show, the artist has become famous. "Bush Monkeys," a portrait of the president made up of dozens of primates swimming in a marsh, enraged the manager of a upscale market with gallery space in lower Manhattan, pushing him to shut down the entire 60-piece show last weekend. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/20/04

Heritage Minister: Canadian Museums Need Help Canada's Heritiage Minister says Canadian museums are in need of major help. "Hundreds of buildings have not been renovated in 30 years. Their roofs are starting to leak and there are cracks in the foundations. Federal funding levels have been stalled since 1972. Ottawa offers about $200 million a year in direct funding for a handful of major sites in the capital region, compared to $9 million for 2,500 sites in the rest of the country." CNews 12/20/04

Getty Land Sale Raises Questions "In 2002, the J. Paul Getty Trust sold Eli Broad a Brentwood property for $2 million. Two years earlier, an appraisal had said it was worth $2.7 million. Getty Chief Executive Barry Munitz, a close friend and professional associate of Broad, personally directed the early stages of the deal, Getty documents show. Experts say the deal raises legal and ethical questions." Los Angeles Times 12/20/04

Barnes' Court Ordeal Affects School's Enrollment All the fuss about whether or not the Barnes Collection would be allowed to move to Philadelphia has affected the Barnes' school enrollment. If the number of applicants doesn't increase, three of the four new classes may have to be cancelled... Philadelphia Daily News 12/20/04

Afghanistan's Greatest Treasure At Risk Again Afghanistan's greatest treasure - the Bactrian Gold -survived the Taliban and looting when the Taliban were deposed. Now "Afghan ministers, desperate to earn prestige and money for the country, want to send the collection abroad. Exhibiting it would be a coup for any museum, and a publicity triumph for a nation better known for narcotics and unrest. Major museums in America, France and Austria have asked to put the hoard on display. Officials in Afghanistan believe the money raised could pay for the restoration of Kabul's museum. But some experts believe that, with corruption and crime rampant in Afghanistan, it would be dangerous to move the treasure out of the vault." The Independent (UK) 12/20/04

MoMA - Great Art In A Cold Box "The new Museum of Modern Art is a $425 million bore that will excite purists but put many others to sleep. Not because of the art, which looks even more spectacular now for having been in storage for four years, but because the galleries and public spaces are so cold and cavernous, as if put together from a collection of drive-in movie screens." Dallas Morning News 12/19/04

The Barnes Decision - Do The Math. Does It Really Work? So the Barnes is moving to Philadelphia, where it's said opportunity awaits. But the plan is to replicate the Barnes' current galleries and limit visitors to 100 ata time. "If the replicated galleries are going to be the same size and if entrance is going to be restricted, as it is now, one wonders if the expected gain is great enough to be worth the effort. The foundation's Merion galleries are much too small for large crowds; the 100-visitor limit acknowledges that. So why replicate the problem as part of the solution?" Philadelphia Inquirer 12/19/04

Workers Damage Old Master Painting "Construction workers accidentally drilled a hole through a 17th-century painting worth €250,000 ($420,000 Canadian) while renovating the Dutch upper house of parliament, officials said Friday." The Globe & Mail (AP) 12/18/04

What The Barnes Decision Is Missing A judge allowed the Barnes Foundation to move to Philadelphia. But not all of the foundation's requests were granted. "Not granted specifically, lawyers said yesterday, were changes to the indenture that would allow the Barnes to hold fund-raising events or special exhibitions at its proposed site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to be open any days and times it chooses, or to sell any of the artwork that it has in storage. It was unclear whether the judge left those requested changes out of his decree intentionally or unintentionally." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/17/04

Making The Sand Safe From Artists Groups of artists creating elaborate sand sculptures on the beaches of Durbin, South Africa have become an attraction. "Foreign tourists, in particular, have been blown away by the beachfront artists who earn a humble living from the tips they get for shaping everything from sharks and mermaids to lounging lions." But the artists say some of them have been arrested by police. "The city bylaws view sand sculptors in the same way as they do beggars and loiterers - as law breakers." The Independent (South Africa) 12/19/04

Liberty Park Gets A Boost - Literally A park facing the new towers set to rise at the Ground Zero site could wind up being more topographically interesting than planned if a new proposal for the towers' parking garages goes ahead as scheduled. "The ramps, which will lead to underground parking and loading docks for the giant complex, will have to accommodate the headroom needed for buses and trucks. And because the land drops as it approaches the Hudson River, the west end of the park may end up as a berm 25 to 30 feet above street level." The New York Times 12/17/04

Jabba The Art The shortlist for the fifth annual Beck's Futures art prize, which honors contemporary UK artists, has been released, and it includes a lifesize sculpture of Jabba the Hutt surrounded by bikini-clad women. The prize is not restricted by medium, however, and the Jabba sculptor will be competing against painters, installation artists, and filmmakers for the pretigious prize. BBC 12/17/04

Fraud Alleged In Giacometti Estate Sales A former French foreign minister has been accused of swindling the estate of sculptor Alberto Giacometti. "Prosecutors and the Giacometti heirs allege that Roland Tajan illegally kept back more than €1.22m of the auction's total proceeds of €6.5m, shoring up his bank balance and hiving off a substantial sum in interest." The Guardian (UK) 12/17/04

Iran Dams Threaten Archaeological Sites An aggressive program of dam-building in Iran is threatening important archaeological sites. "There are currently 85 dams under construction across the country, part of a programme that the Iranian government promotes with a considerable amount of national pride. At least five dams, all in advanced stages of construction, have been identified as threatening sites of particular importance ." The Art Newspaper 12/17/04

Returned Looted Art Coming To Market More and more art looted in World War II is coming to market. "Since 1996, Sotheby’s and Christie’s alone have sold a combined total of about £140 million ($252 million at today’s exchange rate) of art returned to families from museums and private collections. As more and more art, primarily looted by the Nazis as well as the Red Army, is being identified and returned, it is becoming an increasingly important source of supply for the auction houses." The Art Newspaper 12/17/04

Claim: Munch Paintings Damaged In Theft A Norwegian newspaper is claiming that the Munch paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" have been damaged after they were stolen last summer. "Sources from both the art world and criminal sources say that at least one of the paintings has been seriously damaged. Witnesses said that both paintings received very rough treatment as the thieves removed them from their frames in the course of their escape. The "Madonna" is reportedly ruined." Aftenposten (Norway) 12/16/04

Copenhagen Mermaid Draped In Burka As European Union leaders gathered to debate allowing Turkey to join the EU, Denmark’s national symbol, the Little Mermaid sculpture perched on a rock at a Copenhagen pier, was draped in a burka and a sash reading “Turkey in the EU?” overnight. Daily Times (Pakistan) 12/16/04

Outrage Closes Show Featuring Hitler Images A German artist is shutting down his controversial show depicting Hitler in response to "public outrage." "Walter Gaudnek says his brightly coloured artworks aim to provoke people by showing Hitler as a human rather than a monster but Jewish community and local political leaders see the images as dangerous." ABCNews (Reuters) 12/16/04

Subito Piano - Our New "It" Architect Renzo Piano is currently the architect of the day, with numerous high-profile projects underway. "How has Piano landed so much work in New York? The same way he's done it all over the world—with designs that are beautifully precise but never radical. Depending on your point of view, Piano is either the most corporate avant-garde architect in the world or the most avant-garde corporate one. Increasingly, his firm is the one museums and big companies call on when they want to bridge the gap between iconic, eye-catching architecture and a quieter, more pragmatic—and more affordable—approach." Slate 12/16/04

Prado Doubles Entry Fee Madrid's Prado Museum is doubling its entry fee - to 8 Euros. Sixty-five percent of the museum's visitors are foreigners. "Under young director Miguel Zugaza, the museum became a public entity last year and as such has to increase its revenue to cover costs." Expatica 12/16/04

Turkey Gets A MoMA Turkey opens its first museum of modern art in Istanbul. "Warehouse No. 4 was turned into a museum by frantic construction work, which went on until the last moment and cost about $5 million. The building features two stories of 4,000 square meters (1-acre) each. On the upper floor, the permanent collection consisting of about 4,000 pieces -- all by Turkish artists -- will be exhibited on a rotational basis." Bloomberg 12/14/04

Budget Cuts Threaten UK's Historic Buildings English Heritage says that announced cuts in budget will be disastrous to the preservation of important buildings. "For the first time the report attempts to assess the state of Grade II-listed buildings - the town halls, corner shops, small country houses and terraces which are the historic environment most familiar to people - and finds a dismal situation. An estimated 17,000 Grade II buildings are regarded as at risk, and although many are in some form of public ownership, thousands are boarded up and many are in danger of collapse." The Guardian (UK) 12/16/04

Royal Academy Appoints New President Nicholas Grimshaw has named president of the troubled Royal Academy in London. The RA has been rocked by a series of high-profile resignations... BBC 12/15/04

Is Berlin Deadening The Human Spirit? Berlin imposes strict rules on any architect wishing to erect a new building, rules drawn up and enforced by the city's powerful director of urban development. The strict code has had some benefits, but overall, Lisa Rochon says that it is killing German architecture. "Urban-design regulations and zoning bylaws... dictate the maximum height of the building (22 metres), a setback for upper storeys, a careful ratio between window openings and masonry walls and a preference for buff-coloured limestone. The preferred elevation looks taut and minimal. The result is an architectural flatness that, when combined with the city's grey winter light, can deaden the human spirit." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/15/04

Washington State Tax Agents Go After Art Collectors Inspired by stories of New York art collectors avoiding sales tax on their purchases, Washington State revenue agents subpoenaed records of an art shipper and went after state residents who hadn't paid a "use" tax (essentially a sales tax) on their out-of-state art purchases. Thousands of collectors may have been dinged for the taxes - plus penalties, which can run as high as 50 percent... Seattle Post-Intelligencer 12/15/04

The New Barnes - Different, Maybe Better? Perhaps the Barnes art will benefit from a new setting, writes Roberta Smith. "Of course, it is great to see paintings in an intimate setting that glows with the patina of time and bears the imprint of a collector's personal vision. But it is also correct to ask whether a collector's wishes, especially when they are restrictive, must be observed in perpetuity. The Barnes collection is not the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Barnes didn't make the art; he bought it, one movable object at a time. Very few things remain the same forever, and they change largely because of human need." The New York Times 12/15/04

World's Tallest Bridge Opens It's in France. "The 1.6-mile viaduc de Millau has been described as one of the most beautiful bridges ever, a work of art as much as an engineering feat. Its architect, Sir Norman Foster, has said driving across at a record 270 metres (885ft) above the Tarn valley should feel like 'flying a car'." The Guardian (UK) 12/14/04

Philly Mayor: The Barnes' New Site A day after finding out that the Barnes Collection will be allowed to move to Philadelphia, the city's mayor announced the new Barnes site. It will be at the Youth Study Center, which is now the city's juvenile detention center at the corner of 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. "The move to the Youth Study Center, however, has some complications. The city has already bought land in West Philadelphia to build a new juvenile detention center, but that new building won't be ready to occupy until October 2007. The Barnes however clearly wants to start building its new museum much sooner." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/14/04

The Barnes Is Dead You can move the art of the Barnes Collection, writes Edward Sozanski. But its soul will not be transported. "The uniquely idiosyncratic art school and gallery that had been one of the wonders of the American cultural landscape since the mid-1920s has been ruled officially dead. Whatever replaces it somewhere along Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be something different, perhaps better, but most likely not. Like the London Bridge that an American developer moved to the Arizona desert, the new Barnes will be a simulacrum at best, ripped from its historical context and set down where it will become just another "attraction" on Philadelphia's developing cultural midway." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/14/04

World's Tallest Building Under Construction Construction begins on what will be the world's tallest building. It's in Dubai and will be 160 stories. "The Burj Dubai tower will stand 800 metres tall - just 5 metres shy of half a mile - once completed in 2008. That will be nearly 300 metres taller than the tallest floored building in the world today, the Taipei Tower in Taiwan." New Scientist 12/13/04

Judge: Barnes Needs To Move To Save It "Judge Stanley R. Ott of the Montgomery County Orphans' Court said the proposed move, backed by pledges of $150 million in financial support primarily from three Philadelphia-area foundations, seemed the only realistic way to save the Barnes from bankruptcy and salvage its prized legacy." The New York Times 12/14/04

Manhattan Dealer Pleads Guilty To Art Forgery A Manhattan art dealer pleads guilty to art forgery over a period of 15 years. "The government charged that Ely Sakhai had purchased genuine but lesser-known works of Gauguin and other Impressionist and modern artists, then ordered copies made by skilled forgers working from the originals. Other painters whose works were copied were Chagall, Klee, Modigliani and Renoir. Mr. Sakhai then sold the copies to private collectors, primarily in Japan and Taiwan." The New York Times 12/14/04

Beaverbrook Dispute Drags On A dispute at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick is dragging through the Canadian legal system. So far the legal costs alone are about $1.5 million for the three parties involved in the tug of war: the art gallery and the Canadian and British Beaverbrook foundations. "At stake is ownership of about 200 prized paintings worth at least $100 million, housed at the provincial art gallery in Fredericton." CNews 12/13/04

Judge Okays Barnes Move To Philly "More than two years after the Barnes board, backed by a $150 million fundraising promise from three charitable foundations, petitioned the court for permission to move the collection, Montgomery County Orphans' Court Judge Stanley Ott agreed that the Barnes needs to relocate to a more-accessible location to avoid going broke." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/13/04

Allegation: Mob-Connected Contractor Got MoMA Job Were the walls at the new Museum of Modern Art put up by a contractor with ties to organized crime? That's the allegation. "The firm, Interstate Drywall, has been affiliated with the family of the late John (Dapper Don) Gotti for years, according to several mob informants and public documents. Construction companies align themselves with mob families so they can get cheaper nonunion help on union jobs, and so they can intimidate other contractors from bidding against them for certain contracts, authorities say." New York Daily News 12/13/04

NY Museums To Raise Admission Prices To Cover City Funding Cuts New York City will likely cut its funding to city museums, and the museums are weighing ways to make up the difference. "Leaders of the 34 city-owned arts groups that make up the Cultural Institutions Group got a face-to-face account of the city's financial problems in a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg a couple of weeks ago. What officials heard was that they'll have to absorb the same cuts of 9 percent over 18 months required of all other city agencies. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the city's top tourist attraction, is upping its suggested donation from $12 to $15 next month." New York Post 12/13/04

Free Admission To Continue At UK Museums The UK government is announcing that free admission will continue at the nation's major museums for three more years. "Under today's package being announced by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, the big national museums will get increases of a fraction over inflation, while the lion's share of a £40 million injection of extra cash to arts and heritage will go outside London to modernise regional museums." London Evening Standard 12/13/04

Istanbul Goes Modern Istanbul has opened a Museum of Modern Art. "Istanbul has been a very important city like New York, London, Paris etc. for centuries. Its only deficiency was a modern arts museum. Now we have one. This museum has added another beauty to the city. Istanbul will be the city of museums and our studies for this will continue." Turkish Daily News 12/12/04

Art School Grant Raises Eyebrows A new art school in Philadelphia has scored a major grant from the Delaware River Port Authority, and some officials are asking how a small-scale start-up operation could be awarded a quarter of a million dollars in bridge toll proceeds (nearly twice the school's entire annual operating budget) while other, more established arts groups go begging. The answer appears to be that school officials have friends in very high political places - friends who lobbied hard for Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell to approve the grant quickly and quietly. Philadelphia Inquirer 12/12/04

London's Royal Academy In Trouble "The Royal Academy of Arts, the body that has represented Britain's leading artists for more than 200 years, is facing a grave financial crisis. Its splendid corridors are riven with talk of plots and bad management, and unless it scores another blockbusting hit with the 'Turks' exhibition, to be staged next year, it may have to sell more of its assets. A new president will be elected on Tuesday, in Vatican-style seclusion, inside the academy's stately home, Burlington House in London's Piccadilly. But when the 80 academicians on the general assembly have made their decision, their newly anointed leader will become the figurehead of an organisation saddled with potentially crippling money problems." The Observer (UK) 12/12/04

Caravaggio Writ Large A historic exhibition of 18 works by Caravaggio is drawing crowds in Naples, further cementing the realist master's reputation as one of the greatest painters of all time. "The reason for the success of this magnificent show has less to do with numbers than with the quality of the works and the period that they document: the last four years of Caravaggio's life, spent peripatetically outside Rome, where he had made a name for himself before he died at 39 of malaria." The New York Times 12/12/04

Let Liverpool Be Liverpool Again A spectacular complex of museums, shops, and apartments known as the Fourth Grace was supposed to be the architectural cornerstone that would take the city of Liverpool out of its post-industrial doldrums and into a brave new future. "But when escalating costs killed the £325 million project off in the summer, the Fourth Grace became an icon for another kind of Liverpool, an inescapable reminder of the constant stream of failed projects and broken promises in the city." The real tragedy, though, may be that Liverpool is still trying to reinvent itself with expensive new buildings, when it already has all the raw ingredients of a beautiful city waiting to be highlighted. The Observer (UK) 12/12/04

Neighborhood Surrealism Looking at photographs of Toronto's surreal and gravity-defying new Sharp Centre, one wonders whether such a bizarre and whimsical structure could possibly exist in reality. But as Benjamin Forgey discovered, the building - a huge horizontal rectangle with a distinct crossword-puzzle motif, balanced precariously atop six pairs of stilts - is every bit as real as the photos suggest. "The marvel is threefold: that folks rather enthusiastically allowed this thing to be built, that it works so well as a practical matter, and that, quite simply, it is beautiful." Washington Post 12/11/04

If Only It Weren't Quite So, Well, Canadian "Situated between the lordly British and German digs [at the Venice Biennale], Canada's stage, designed by Milan-based architects for our best artists... is a curiously self-effacing structure, more likely to be found near Georgian Bay than near the Canale di San Marco. Overcoming its cramped, curved interior space has been as much a problem for the artists as their own pieces." Toronto Star 12/11/04

Coming Soon: Dali Kong A Canadian artist was gazing at a famous Mondrian painting some years back, when something told him that he'd seen a similar layout before, in his old 1980s-era Atari video game system. "Pac-Mondrian is the meeting ground in arcade-game format between Toru Iwantani's classic 1980s Atari game Pac-Man and Piet Mondrian's oil painting, Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43), the motionless but vibrant jangle of red, yellow and blue rectangles representing the expatriate Dutch painter's reaction to the hectic, well-travelled grid of New York in the early 1940s." The unauthorized mish-mash has become a legitimate Internet art smash, with tens of thousands of visitors playing the game and admiring the art. Toronto Star 12/11/04

Maybe Some Asterisks Would Have Helped When the Dallas-based Meadows Museum sent out invitations to its new exhibit featuring works from the extensive collection of Nona & Richard Barrett, the thinking was that the museum was celebrating a rich legacy of Texan art. But some artists attending the opening were stunned to discover that their Barrett-owned works were not in the show, despite the fact that the museum had listed their names in the brochure. It was all a big misunderstanding, of course, but the hurt feelings have remained. Dallas Morning News 12/11/04

Most Expensive Furniture Ever An antique cabinet sells at auction for £19illion, making it the most expensive piece of furniture to be sold at an auction. "The sale broke the cabinet's own record price of £8.5m when it was bought at Christie's in 1990. The Florentine furniture was made between 1720 and 1732 for Henry Somerset, third Duke of Beaufort." BBC 12/10/04

Taiwan President Pledges Support To Guggenheim Branch (With Conditions) The president of Taiwan says he'll endorse building a branch of the Guggenheim Museum on the island if his party wins in parliamentary elections this week. Critics assailed the president's promise, calling it campaign rhetoric. "Taichung city council earlier this week rejected Hu's proposal for a Guggenheim branch, citing insufficient funding. The mayor intended to seek the central government's help to save the project." China Post 12/10/04

Did Tate Refuse Saatchi Gift? (The Plot Thickens) Did Tate Modern turn down an offer by Charles Saatchi to donate his collection? Saatchi says yes, Tate no. Now Saatchi says he's not in the mood. “I lost my chance for a tastefully engraved plaque and a 21-gun salute. And now the mood has passed, and I’m happy not to have to visit Tate Modern, or its storage depot, to look at my art.” The Art Newspaper 12/09/04

Bringing Twin Artworks Together Again "A pair of rare multimillion-dollar paintings by the Russian-born artist Wassily Kandinsky were reunited Wednesday at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts after being separated in a crude artistic surgery more than 70 years ago in Munich, Germany. The Minneapolis museum has owned one of the colorful abstractions since 1967, but the other, which was originally painted on the back of the Minneapolis image, fell through the cracks of Europe's war-torn history and was all but forgotten for nearly a century. Preserved by the family of a Kandinsky friend, the second painting recently resurfaced in Munich and is now on loan to the Minneapolis museum." Minneapolis Star Tribune 12/09/04

The Art Of War War has inspired countless powerful works of art over the centuries, but most of it has been created by outside observers rather than by those who actually experience the horror of battle and the triumph of victory. In recent years, however, more and more veterans have been creating artworks to express their lingering feelings about the conflicts in which they were involved, and the results, as shown at a Chicago museum devoted to vet art, are deeply personal and overtly engaging. Chicago Tribune 12/09/04

Up In The Sky! It's A Billboard! It's A Beer Ad! No! It's Art! When Minneapolis's Walker Art Center closed for a full year in order to renovate and expand, it launched "Walker Without Walls", a series of events and installations intended to keep the museum's name on everyone's lips. The most constantly visible example of the museum's efforts has been a large billboard on one of the city's main downtown streets, which has featured a new specially created artwork by a different artist each month. But what is the public actually getting out of the billboard, which offers no explanation of what it is or why it's there? One passer-by mistook the latest billboard for a beer ad - "Red Stripe, I think. Definitely not Budweiser" - and another thinks she sees "dried-up death on one side." City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 12/08/04

Brueghel Masterpiece Nets £3.7 Mil An action-filled painting representing the pinnacle of 17th-century Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel's career sold at auction in the UK this week for £3.7 million. The Kermesse of St George depicts the drunken revelry of a village feast day, and has been out of the public eye since 1930, when it was bought by a Belgian family. The new buyer has not been revealed. BBC 12/09/04

FBI Recovers Stolen Art In St. Louis About $2 million worth of art was found. "The art, which had been reported stolen on Oct. 13, included works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko and others. It belonged to an out-of-state family that had stored the items in the St. Louis area, authorities said." St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12/08/04

San Diego Museum To Return Stolen Art The San Diego Museum of Art is returning a painting believed to have been stolen from a Mexican church four years ago. "The trafficking of stolen artworks concerns all of us – museums, scholars, and the public at large. This is an example of how the museum and trustees really want to do the right thing." San Diego Union-Tribune 12/08/04

Carvings Damaged By Taliban Go Back On Display "A collection of pre-Islamic wooden idols chopped up by the Taliban in 2001 in their drive for a pure Muslim state is back on display in Afghanistan after being restored in a project financed by the Austrian government. The near life-sized idols, some bearing at least a passing resemblance to the mysterious stone statues of Easter Island, went on display this week at the Kabul Museum, which was badly ravaged in Afghanistan's civil war and Taliban rule until 2001." WebIndia (ANI) 12/09/04

Vandals Deface Norwegian Sculpture "The centerpiece of Norway's famed Vigeland sculpture park, the Monolith, may have suffered permanent damage after the lowest section was spray-painted black. A crew from a maintenance company removed the black paint on Tuesday and the Vigeland Museum is still not sure how much the incident will cost them." Aftenposten (Norway) 12/08/04

Crete Islanders Pool Resources For El Greco Residents of the island of Crete are banding together hoping to buy a painting by El Greco that is up for auction. "He is the most important person Crete has ever produced. It upsets us that ... so many think he is from Spain." The Guardian (UK) 12/08/04

Winnipeg Royalty Storms LA Winnipeg's Royal Art Lodge is an artist collective that's getting some big traction outside the Coldest City In The World. "Usually one artist will start a drawing, throw it in a pile, and then others contribute, amend, appropriate, thus embarking on an ongoing dialogue until either a work reveals itself or is appropriately disposed of. 'At the beginning of a meeting, I generally like to start drawings or paintings and then later on when my mind is working better I switch to finishing them. For me, there’s definitely more satisfaction in finishing. The works develop in a lot of different ways, but usually it is a lot easier to start a work than to finish one'." LA Weekly 12/02/04

Branding Dali In Philly The Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting the first SWalvador Dali retrospective in the US since 1941. "The exhibition will comprise 200 works, including some of Dalí's famous surrealist canvases. It will showcase the artist's works as a painter, sculptor, writer, designer of ballets, filmmaker, theorist and publicist. If you don't know Salvador Dalí, you will. Philadelphia will have Dalí banners, Dalí bus-wraps, Dalí window displays, a Dalí trolley, and lots else Dalí. The plan is to spread the excitement and economic impact citywide, creating an event people can participate in - and spend dollars on - even if they never set foot in the show." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/05/04

Romania's New Contemporary Art Museum In Controversial Palace Romania has a new National Museum of Contemporary Art. It's located in an enormous palace that former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had built but never occupied. "At 270 by 244 metres the building is the second largest building in the world (after the Pentagon). Construction began in 1984, but the massive structure was never completed. To clear land for it, Ceausescu bulldozed 7,000 homes and 26 churches in southern Bucharest and relocated over 70,000 people to the outskirts of the city." The Art Newspaper 12/07/04

Huxtable: MoMA Gets It Right Ada Louise Huxtable has had a life-long relationship with the Museum of Modern Art, following its various incarnations on 53rd St. And the latest version? it's "a suavely sophisticated, exquisitely executed, elegantly understated building that doubles the museum's size. Mr. Taniguchi's style--where less is so much more than trendy minimalism, with every carefully reasoned detail honed as close to perfection as possible--is the right architecture for the Modern. It is also the right building for New York." OpinionJournal.com 12/08/04

The Louvre: Coming To America The Louvre is going to open an outpost at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2006. "The two museums have been in discussions since spring and expect to sign an agreement next month. Under the terms of the collaboration, the French museum is to lend hundreds of its works to the High Museum for an indefinite period in return for an undisclosed sum, estimated at $10 million for the first three years." The Art Newspaper 12/07/04

Art Helps Fight Sickness "St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London has come under attack from medical professionals and politicians because of its decision to spend £250,000 ($467,000) on works of art for its new breast cancer screening centre. The hospital has defended its decision to purchase 12 paintings and installations—paid for with private donations and not through National Health Service funds—because, it says, there is evidence that, art will speed patients’ recovery by improving their spirits." The Art Newspaper 12/07/04

"Reality" TV - The Art Theft A gang of art thieves is assembled and set the task of breaking in to a gallery and stealing art. On TV. "In Channel 4's The Heist, they plan to penetrate state-of-the-art security at the Business Design Centre in Islington and remove The View From The Bandstand by Andrew Gifford - described by critics as a modern masterpiece. Each of the ex-criminals was once notorious in a certain field before going straight - an armed robber, jewellery thief, gangster, extortionist and internet hacker." London Evening Standard 12/07/04

Basel Miami Eclipses Chicago As Art Basel Miami has grown, the Chicago Art Fair has waned. "In recent years, Art Chicago, our own international art fair, has dwindled to near-irrelevance as Art Basel Miami has assiduously wooed away art dealers and artists from around the world. How did they do it? The hallmark of the success of the fair is a combination of institutional and private collaboration." Chicago Sun-Times 12/06/04

LA City Audit Reveals Missing Art An audit of artwork owned by city agencies in Los Angeles suggests that hundreds of pieces of art are missing. "The city has maintained its own art collection since at least the 1920s. There was a person who was supposed to be the curator of this collection, and he allowed city entities to borrow pieces to decorate city buildings. The problem was that over the years, the artwork that had been checked out was not really followed up on." Los Angeles Daily News 12/04/04

Art Basel Miami - Buying Art As A Lifestyle "If spending millions of dollars on art was something done in private a few years ago, conspicuous consumption is back. At this spinoff of the highly successful 35-year-old fair in Basel, Switzerland, young, hip hedge-fund managers, Fortune 500 executives and A-list actors are shopping side by side in a spree fueled by new wealth, a hot art market and the headlong pursuit of membership in a glamorous, elite club." The New York Times 12/07/04

Royal Academy Secretary Resigns Lawton Fitt has resigned as secretary of the Royal Academy. "Ms Fitt, who joined the academy only two years ago, was the first woman and the first American to be appointed as the RA's secretary, one of the two most powerful positions at the organisation. But earlier this year reports spread of her feuding with Norman Rosenthal, the long-serving exhibitions secretary, a man who is admired as much for his inspired curatorial talent as he is loathed by many people for his abrasive style." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/04

Expert: Parthenon Marbles Would Have Been Fine in Greece One of the biggest British arguments for keeping the Parthenon Marbles in London has been that keeping them there has protected them better than if they had been left in Greece. But "a distinguished Cambridge scholar says the sculptures would have been just fine if Lord Elgin had left them in Athens. Following a sophisticated 11-year conservation program in Athens, the 14 slabs that Lord Elgin did not manage to remove are now showing surprisingly bright original details." Discovery 12/04/04

Deller Wins Turner Prize Jeremy Deller wins this year's Turner Prize with his video "Memory Bucket, a documentary exploring Crawford, Texas, and the site of the Branch Davidian siege in Waco. Video art dominated the 2004 shortlist, with Kutlug Ataman, Langlands & Bell and Yinka Shonibare also nominated." BBC 12/06/04

• Turner Winner A Popular Pick "The 38-year-old Londoner (Jeremy Deller), who describes himself as 'not a technically capable person', is almost unnaturally well-liked both by the art world and the general public. After the shockers of previous years - unmade beds, elephant dung and copulating sex dolls - Deller's most startling revelation was that Laura Bush likes a deep fried jalapeno chilli with her burger." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/04

Art Basel Hope To Turn Profit In Third Year Art Basel Miami Beach has yet to turn a profit, even though it has been a hit in the art world. "In budget documents, the Swiss art show listed a $145,000 shortfall from last year, a loss it hopes to erase this weekend with higher exhibitor fees and ticket prices and more dollars from corporate sponsors. 'This year will be the first year when we see a little black'." Miami Herald 12/06/04

When Museum Trustees Collect Art For trustees of museums, "a reward of investing time and money is gaining proximity to art and artists. Critics say that can translate into financial advantage when the art is contemporary - if, for example, insiders buy pieces before they gain museum cachet, thus becoming more valuable." The New York Times 12/05/04

Five Years After The Millennium Dome London's Millennium Dome was one big spectacular failure. Five years later, the fortunes of those who were associated with the project are mixed. And the Dome itself is getting new life. It's being redeveloped into a "26,000- capacity venue that it promises will 'provide international acts and sports teams with arena facilities of a standard currently unseen in Europe' by 2007. The arena is also part of London's official bid for the Olympics in 2012. The Observer (UK) 12/05/04

Why Cambridge Is Getting Out Of The Architecture Business Cambridge is trying to close its architecture program. It's one of the top three in Britain, so the idea's perverse. And yet, changing requirements for how university schools must behave puts it in danger. "Architects have spent the best part of a century trying to be taken seriously and now the subject is being pushed into the second- or even the third-tier universities, as if it was catering or windsurfing. That is bad for architecture, bad for education and terrible for the quality of Britain's cities." The Observer (UK) 12/05/04

Art As Web Real Estate Buy one of artist Stephen Rumney's works and you get the image, a virtual image and a web address. His 'online art installations form part of his Domain Art exhibition. As well as the online image, the buyer becomes the legal owner of its integrated website address and an art gallery installation of the image." BBC 12/03/04

Did Levers Move Rocks To Stonehenge? How did the giant stones get moved to Stonehenge? A new theory suggests levers. "They have tested his 'stone-rowing' theory which involves a 45-tonne stone being levered on a track of logs. It's akin to rowing a boat, weights can be picked up with levers using body mass and balance." BBC 12/03/04

Reviving A City, The Boring Way When Ed Rendell became mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the city was at a civic and cultural low point, having seen its national reputation plummet in the previous two decades. Over his two terms as mayor, Rendell spearheaded a relentless drive to revive his city, and championed arts initiatives and building projects which he saw as essential to Philadelphia's future. But while the city's comeback has been remarkable, the buildings used to accomplish the feat are somewhat disappointing from an architectural standpoint. "Given a once-in-a-generation chance to distinguish itself with design, Philadelphia instead showed a preference for the prosaic." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/05/04

The One-Man Museum Leonard Lauder runs the Whitney Museum. No, that's not strong enough: Leonard Lauder is the Whitney Museum. "As chairman of the Whitney for the last 14 years, he has run the museum like a family business, deploying his considerable resources and connections on its behalf, regularly scribbling suggestions to staffers on his blue personal stationery. It is a hands-on approach that makes it hard to tell where he ends and the museum begins." But that warm-and-fuzzy one-man management is making things difficult for the Whitney at a time when other New York museums are grabbing the spotlight and the dollars that come with it. Questions abound, not the least of which is whether the Whitney can survive Lauder's eventual departure. The New York Times 12/05/04

National Archives Robbed Many Times Over "Hundreds of letters and photographs are missing from the National Archives and its regional offices, including one presidential library. Many are suspected stolen. The extent of the losses is detailed in a series of reports from the organization's investigative office, but the value of the items is difficult to determine because that is largely measured by historic importance and rarity." Washington Post 12/04/04

Art Theft: Not Just For Big Museums Anymore Last week, a receptionist at a small New York gallery unlocked the front door for two men she thought were telephone repairmen. Minutes later, the men walked out of the gallery with a valuable painting by the 19th-century artist Théodore Chassériau hidden under a jacket. It's not exactly a common occurrence, but the city's gallery owners say the thieves' modus operandi is familiar, and very hard to combat. The New York Times 12/04/04

Basel Miami Fair Opens Big This year's Art Basel Miami Beach opens, bigger than ever. More galleries, more artists, more media, more collectors and even more celebrities are participating in the fair than ever before -- creating an energy unlike any other art fair in America." Miami Herald 12/03/04

Field Scores $17 Million At Auction Chicago's Field Museum nets $17 million auctioning some of its art. "Included in the sale were 31 paintings of American Indians and bison by artist and adventurer George Catlin, representing the bulk of the Field's Catlin collection, which the museum has owned since shortly after it was founded in 1893. The decision this fall to auction the Catlins, which the artist is thought to have painted during his travels in the American frontier in the 1830s, generated controversy within the museum and on the Field's board of trustees, but museum officials said the sale was part of a strategy to focus its holdings on scientific materials and to expand its collections." Chicago Tribune 12/03/04

Record Sales For Russian Art New records for the sale of Russian art have been set in London this week at auctions, underscoring the rebound in Russia's economic fortunes and its boost to the British capital's position as destination of choice for affluent consumers from the east. Financial Times 12/04/04

• New Russians And The Russians This week in London, the largest sales of Russian paintings were up for bid. And who's buying? Russians. "So-called 'New Russians' have accumulated vast fortunes, helped by rising prices for oil and other raw materials, and have spent some of that wealth on buying works by artists they were taught in school to revere." The Scotsman 12/01/04

Drawn To The Representation Side There was a time when if you were an absractionist, that's what you stayed. Maybe no longer. "In today’s anything-goes atmosphere, switching camps—from abstraction to representation or vice versa—is not considered exceptionally radical, or even brave, but it still gives us pause." ARTnews 12/04

Those Ancient Romans Traveled In Style "Underneath a German bus terminal, archaeologists have found the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman roadside rest stop that included a chariot service station, gourmet restaurant and hotel with central heating. The building complex indicates that citizens of the Roman Empire traveled in relative comfort." Discovery 12/02/04

Registering Stolen Art The Art Loss Register is a small operation. But since its founding, the company has compiled a huge database of stolen art and assisted in the recovery of millions of dollars worth of objects. Morning Edition (NPR) (Audio link) 12/02/04

The Ugliest Building In Town (Why Can't It go Away?) Wouldn't it be lovely if you could wave your hand and the ugliest building in town would go away? Of course ugly is subjective, as John King admits, but there are some basic rules about what defines an offensive piece of architecture... San Francisco Chronicle 12/02/04

Canadian Attacks Koons Sculpture In Berlin "Istvan Kantor, best known as the man who was banned from the National Gallery of Canada in the 1990s for tossing a vial of his own blood on the walls, has turned up in Berlin where he sprayed more of his bodily fluids at a statue of Michael Jackson yesterday. Also known as Monty Cantsin, Kantor was banned from the Art Gallery of Ontario for vomiting on a painting in 1996. Six months later he repeated the performance at New York's Museum of Modern Art. At the time he said he was protesting the 'oppressively trite and painfully banal' nature of the works in question." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/02/04

China's Third Wave Art "In the past 25 years, Chinese artists have followed and studied the art of Europe, America and Asia's developed countries. There has been scant contemporary Chinese art with its own distinctive language and aesthetic value that does not defer to the expectations of the established art circuit." Now, a third wave of Chinese artists is wrking with a language that is distinctly Chinese... People's Daily (China) 12/02/04

Disney In The Buff Keepers of LA's Disney Hall are considering dulling the finish of the exterior after a study finds that reflection of the sun heats nearby apartments and poses a hazard to traffic. Gehry is said to agree to the changes. The New York Times 12/02/04

Cambridge Considers Getting Out Of Architecture Cambridge University is considering closing down its architecture school. "The prospect of our leading research university closing its only department that has a direct impact on the quality of our built environment is worrying and may indicate deeper attitudes and realities that are of equal concern." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04

Duchamp Named Most Influential "Marcel Duchamp's iconic urinal has been named the most influential piece of modern art. "The Duchamp came out top in a survey of 500 artists, curators, critics and dealers commissioned by the sponsor of the Turner prize, Gordon's. Different categories of respondents chose markedly different works, with artists in particular plumping overwhelmingly for Fountain. 'It feels like there is a new generation out there saying, 'Cut the crap - Duchamp opened up modern art'." The Guardian (UK) 12/02/04

American Government Moves To Seize Picasso From Collector The American government is trying to seize a Picasso from a Chicago collector. "The attempt is a rare instance in which federal prosecutors, apparently for the first time in California, are invoking the US National Stolen Property Act (NSPA) against an individual collector in an attempt to seize art in a Nazi-loot claim, on the theory that the work is stolen goods which crossed state lines." The Art Newspaper 12/01/04

Tut As Entertainment The newly announced show of King Tut treasures coming to America is a for-profit affair and being packaged as entertainment. "The Egyptian government intends to clear $10 million in every city visited by a new touring show of Tutankhamun artifacts. Its financial goals have cultural institutions around the United States weighing the crowds his treasures are likely to draw against the prospect of having to charge as much as $30." The New York Times 12/02/04

• Tut'll Cost Ya In LA Hoping to get a glimpse of King Tut when he comes to Los Angeles? It'll cost you. Tickets will be as much as $30. "A portion of the exhibition's proceeds will fund construction of a new museum in Cairo, as well as preservation and conservation of archeological sites in Egypt." Los Angeles Times 12/01/04

The Hidden Cost of High Admission With MoMA now charging $20 just for the privilege of getting in the door, other museums are sure to follow with higher admission charges of their own. But such hikes are not only inconvenient, says Jeff Weinstein, they threaten to undermine the very mission of art museums. “Without dependable government grants, museums think they must be run like Wal-Marts in order to survive,” but by setting their price scale according to what the high rollers will pay, museums run the risk that no penniless youth will ever set foot inside. And assuming that today’s penniless youths are tomorrow’s millionaire entrepreneurs, as some of them certainly are, MoMA is risking the interest of an entire generation for short-term profit. Philadelphia Inquirer 12/01/04

Sotheby's To Sell Off Camelot More than 600 paintings and assorted trinkets from the home of President John F. Kennedy & Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s this week, with the full sale expected to bring $1 million or more. “Among the most prominent items, Kennedy will offer the paintings done in 1968 by Aaron Shickler in the living room of her mother's Manhattan apartment, Portrait Of Jacqueline Kennedy With Caroline And John Jr. and John And Caroline Reading, A Study, that likely will sell for $3,000 to $12,000.” Toronto Star 12/01/04