Category: visual

No sooner had the tourism crash caused by the H1N1 virus begun to abate than the Mexican federal government announced billions of dollars in emergency budget cuts. “[T]he crisis is particularly acute in a country that prides itself on a unique artistic tradition, where access to ‘culture’ is enshrined in the constitution.”

“Fifteen years ago Rainer Mielke cycled past a bunker on his way to work each day. Grey and covered in lichen, the World War II building stood in an expensive Bremen area where the architect and his wife wanted to buy real estate. ‘So I thought, perhaps I could transform this bunker into a flat’.” He’s been making surprisingly airy apartments in these old concrete blocks ever since.

“Although there’s much discussion about where waterfront redevelopment is heading, there’s no question the opera house has completely redrawn the map of Oslo. Mostly, though, Oslo’s new landmark is the most visible symbol yet of a city set on reimagining itself.”

Officers had said that the painting was stolen during Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, but a source at the museum in the emirate said they had never housed such a work. “The National Museum had no Picasso paintings before the Iraqi invasion,” the official said on condition of anonymity. A tag on the back of the painting, one riddled with misspellings, names the work “The nakede” (sic) and says it was “sold by the louvre to the musum” (sic) of Kuwait 1979, with the words Louvre and Kuwait in lower case.

“In the Russian capital the post-Soviet art scene is developing into a major international force. Three huge and vibrant new exhibition spaces have opened in Moscow in the last two years, one of them masterminded by Abramovich’s socialite girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova. Edgy, arty hangouts are popping up too.”

The Young British Artists have matured and gone on. So who takes their place? “This generation of female artists is united by their differences: they work as individuals, singular figures, rather than within any kind of group identity.”

The 372,000 attendees made the show “the highest-attended exhibition in the museum’s history since it started keeping track of such figures in 1992, the museum said.”

“It will appeal to a charming, essentially 19th century notion of the train station as a place of metropolitan arrival: a grand portal designed to deliver passengers directly into the middle of a crowded, bustling city, lending some sense of glamour to a train trip simply by a kind of architectural osmosis.”

“Authorities in the art world cast doubt Thursday on the authenticity of an alleged Picasso painting that was seized by Iraqi police south of Baghdad. A painting called The Naked Woman that police claimed was painted by Picasso was seized near the southern city of Hillah on Tuesday after the man allegedly tried to sell it for $450,000.”

“The cast-iron and glass structure was part of a £12 million redesign of the historic building, once the home of Diana, Princess of Wales, aimed at enhancing its appeal to visitors. The entrance or loggia was … thrown out by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s planning committee last night.”