Category: visual

It is clear that temporary art commissions have greatly enriched and freed up the field of public art in recent years; by virtue of being ephemeral, such installations exist permanently in the memory and in documentation, whilst avoiding the need for long-term care. But this is now under threat in the UK with budget cuts.

“Light projection technology developed for theatrical performances and rock concerts is being used to “virtually reintegrate” a lost sequence of a German 16th-century mural.”

“Japanese architects have won a competition to design the first dedicated museum for the [Victoria & Albert] outside London, a low-slung angular building on the banks of the river Tay [in Dundee]. The ‘bold and ambitious’ design by Kengo Kuma & Associates, [is] a two-part structure of close-fitting slabs made from a stone compound and glass.”

“The J. Paul Getty Trust is being told once more that its money – this time $44.9million – may be no good in Great Britain, where authorities have blocked the sale of a prized landscape painting of Rome by J.M.W. Turner that the Getty appeared to have bought in a July auction.”

The London-based Indian sculptor is, of course, famous for his large-scale pieces and installations. “While in Mumbai the exhibition will take over an entire Bollywood film studio, in Delhi they have merely had to expand an entrance to the new wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art to get the pieces in.”

“That construction work, however, is taking place amid a debate that has been waged for decades over whether the Sagrada Família is drifting too far from its creator’s artistic vision. Some also argue that the Sagrada Família’s tourism appeal — it draws an estimated 2.5 million visitors a year — lies precisely in the fact that it is one of the world’s greatest unfinished works of art.”

“Bigger totals have been recorded. But none said as much about the eagerness of ever larger numbers of art buyers to lay hands on almost anything presentable or, failing that, on works of no great distinction adorned with glamorous signatures.”

“Ai, who is a relentless user of the microblog Twitter, is best known for co designing Beijing’s Olympic stadium, the Birds Nest, which some hoped would herald a more open China. Ai suspects that the order may be linked to two high-profile campaigns that have embarrassed and angered the Shanghai government in recent years.”

“Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei” – the creator of the porcelain seeds installation at the Tate Modern – “says he is offering his supporters 10,000 river crabs – an autumn delicacy – to ‘celebrate’ the government-ordered demolition of his new Shanghai studio.”

Yes, Antoni Gaudi’s mad, monumental church has been under construction for 125 years. But “250 craftsmen have been hurrying to get the central nave finished in time for the visit next weekend by Pope Benedict XVI, who will consecrate the church as a Basilica.”