Category: visual

“The graying of the traditional museum patron, the shifting global demographic mix, and the new cultural consumption habits of a younger generation are forcing most museums to make fundamental and not always comfortable changes – refashioning themselves from bastions of remote culture into social centers and community hubs.”

“Museums eat money. They need operating revenue, development funds, an endowment. They crave donors. They compete for visitors, which makes them hunger for blockbuster shows to keep attendance high. There’s concern that with so many big museums charging admission in a withering economy, some organizations will suffer.” Is the addition of two more museums in Philadelphia a good thing?

“At a time when cultural organizations struggle to hold onto their audiences, the ICA is Boston’s greatest success story.” Since its 2006 move to a new home designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, “attendance has boomed, making it the second most visited museum in the region. And a string of recent high-profile shows has … changed the way Bostonians, traditionally more attuned to Sargent and Monet, look at contemporary art.”

“The show, which doesn’t have a title or a broadcast date, will try to do for the contemporary art world what the cable channel has done for the worlds of fine cuisine (“Top Chef”) and fashion (“Project Runway”): discover young, or maybe even middle-aged or old, unknowns with the talent to command the attention of both a television audience and a serious audience in the creative field to which they aspire.”

“That action unleashed outrage in cyberspace and quickly led to a stand-off between the proponents of free information and cultural institutions wanting to protect one of their few revenue streams – licence fees for reproducing images of their artworks. The row also goes to the heart of an internet revolution which does not recognise borders or national laws.”

A number of cruise-ship art buyers “claim in a legal summons they are victims of a carefully orchestrated fraud which has left them with pictures that are either valueless fakes, or genuine but commonly available works that are worth a fraction of their eye-watering sale price.”

“The Chinese art market, ravaged by the collapse in prices that saw the disappearance of scores of galleries in the first months of this year, has witnessed the first tentative signs of recovery, underwritten by significant regional government investment in both Shanghai and Beijing.”

“The Obamas have been quietly notifying an array of public institutions, dealers and collectors that they are looking to borrow first-rate art of a more recent vintage to display in the White House with an emphasis on works by black, Hispanic, Asian and female artists.”

“Picasso’s cold war career as a highly political painter, peace campaigner and tireless fundraiser for leftwing causes will be revealed in an exhibition at Tate Liverpool next spring that will include letters from world leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Ho Chi Minh, as well as a telegram from Fidel Castro congratulating the artist on being awarded the Soviet Union’s international peace prize.”

“Today, Christie’s announced a new iPhone application that allows users to browse more than 450 auctions in close to 80 categories in such areas as fine arts, jewelry, photographs and wine. … The application can display real-time auction results but doesn’t yet offer the ability for users to place bids.”