Category: visual

Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, still has a collection of Art Deco and Italian Modernist buildings that were constructed when Mussolini’s Italy controlled the country. Present-day Asmarans now seem to consider these landmarks part of Eritrean culture and heritage, rather than colonial impositions.

“One couple failed because they Tweeted their every move. One man attempted to hook the picture off the wall with a long broom. Having eluded such elaborate ruses, Pulp Fiction will now be donated to Crime Stoppers, a division of the police, and will be auctioned off to raise funds for crime fighting.”

“He may be an artist so identified with his own moment that his flame will gutter when individual pieces of larger enterprises are broken up and confined in permanent exhibitions. This is the context where deceased artists (without their own museums) have to compete to be noticed and live on, and it’s one reason painters have an advantage in art-history books.”

“M Shed in Bristol, Turner Contemporary in Margate, The Hepworth Wakefield and Glasgow’s Riverside Museum are among the 10 museums in contention. The prize rewards excellence and innovation for a project completed or undertaken in the previous year.”

“Now an ambitious plan” – by the design firm OLIN – “is in the works to transform this four-block-long stretch along Fifth Avenue, from 80th to 84th Street, into a more efficient, pleasing and environmentally friendly space, with new fountains, tree-shaded allées, seating areas, museum-run kiosks and softer, energy-efficient nighttime lighting.”

“Four years after designing the spectacular Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei are to reunite … to design this year’s pavilion – the 12th commission in what has become a major annual event on the architecture calendar.”

“Profits at Zaha Hadid Architects more than halved last year as the Arab spring brought several major projects to a halt. A conference centre and a complex of offices and shops in Cairo were put on hold, as was a conference hall in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.”

“Supporters of free entry point to its success in terms of increasing attendance. Across the UK visits have increased by 51% since 2000, statistics collected by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport reveal.”

“The design shows Eisenhower as a youth gazing out at images of his adult accomplishments against a backdrop of the Kansas plains. But the Eisenhower family objects to the design and is attempting to delay approval of the project in a dispute that has pitted a leading American family against one of the country’s most recognized architects.”

“That knotty question arises in the case of Jack Goldstein, an admired artist whose sculptures are currently included in” a Pacific Standard Time show at Pomona College. Goldstein, known mainly as a painter, made a few sculptures which were shown at Pomona 40 years ago. They don’t survive, so Pomona recreated two of them. Is this enterprising? Or unethical?