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“Sensing that a heated market may soon reach its peak, collectors have consigned hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of artworks for the November sales at New York’s auction houses. Sotheby’s and Christie’s say the estimated sales totals are the highest in nearly 15 years. Usually it is the so-called 3-D’s – death, divorce and debt – that motivate people to sell at auction. But this fall, in addition to the many millions of dollars that the auction houses are estimating people will pay to get what some in the business call ‘wall power,’ many collectors have simply decided that now is the moment to cash in.”

“The surrealist architecture of Gaudi may have helped Barcelona turn itself into a magnet for tourists and one of Europe’s most admired cities. But the emergence of a shop-front in north London in the anarchic style the Catalan pioneered has divided locals and led officials to order its removal. This may be a battle about architecture and commerce in one north London area, but it also reflects a concern that shopping streets across Britain are increasingly looking the same. It is also a test of how adventurous English taste has become. While Antonio Gaudi’s buildings, such as the Sagrada Familia church and his other multi-coloured offerings, perk up Barcelona’s streets, some say they are too radical for Britain.”

Sales have been unexpectedly brisk at this fall’s Art Forum Berlin, suggesting that the German collecting world may be coming out of a 3-year malaise touched off by the brutal recession that hit the country in 2001. The controversy surrounding the Frick collection and the decision of many vendors at the Art Forum to showcase a new generation of younger artists may also be contributing to the uptick in sales.

Michigan’s Henry Ford Museum, which specializes in U.S. history, has announced a major partnership with America Online which will give the museum access to AOL’s 30 million subscribers. “[The deal] comes a week after Walt Disney Imagineering of Glendale, Calif., agreed to give the Henry Ford unlimited access to artifacts from its theme parks to design a first-ever museum exhibit that examines the invention and legacy of Disneyland as a U.S. pop-cultural phenomenon.” It may all sound fairly, um, corporate, but the museum is hoping that its willingness to aggressively market itself through synergy will pay off in long-term financial security.

“Frei Otto, the 79-year-old German architect and structural engineer whose work continues to inspire leading British architects such as Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, has won this year’s Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects, it is the world’s most prestigious architectural award. Born in Siegmar, Saxony, in 1925, Otto made his mark with a number of impressive ultra-modern and super-light tent-like structures using new materials, beginning with the West German pavilion, designed with Rolf Gutbrod, for the 1967 Montreal Expo.”