Category: visual

“A small, off-the-beaten-path museum an hour north of Milwaukee, it has been building a reputation in the art world for exhibiting so-called outsider or self-taught art with the kind of single-minded passion and depth of vision typically associated with the artists themselves.”

“Iraq’s US-led invaders inflicted serious damage on Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world’s greatest archaeological sites, said experts for UNESCO. Now Babylon is the object of a turf war between newly empowered Iraqi officials. At the national level, Iraq’s state antiquities office, focused on conservation, is up against officials of the province surrounding Babylon who want to attract tourists. They have already provoked concern by leveling a section of the site to create a picnic area.”

“In no other country is the idea of their ownership by the public, their status as a part of civic life, their role as the places we go to examine ourselves and the world, so strong. It is the deep-rooted idea that our national museums and our arts are the property of the people that has led to the widespread embracing of One and Other. Woe betide the government that attempts to introduce arts spending cuts.”

“The chief result of pedestrianisation has been the trashing of a civic space . . . Official agencies not only fail to protect historic buildings but are complicit in the destruction of a major amenity in the centre of our capital city. The conversion of the fourth plinth into a soap box or theatrical stage may be high-minded in intention but is symptomatic of this pervasive antagonism to architectural order.”

“A spirit of playful giganticism informs much of the public art along Sound Transit’s new Link light-rail route between Seattle’s Westlake Station and Tukwila.”

After the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, the State Department produced design guidelines that made security the top architectural priority. The result was a batch of new embassies that were both impenetrable and designed to be built efficiently nearly anywhere on Earth: one-size-fits-all bunkers.

“Of the two sessions totaling about $86.08 million, it was Christie’s performance that was the most surprising, if hardly the most glorious. Viewing the offerings that were to be dispersed on Tuesday, few insiders would have imagined that Christie’s would be able to squeeze £20.28 million out of 48 lots and conclude its lackluster sale with only 15 lots unsold.”

“Death doesn’t lie, so death masks – a cast of the face in wax or plaster, taken just hours after breath has gone – promise truthful representations of the departed. In an era before photography, these masks give us each beauty and blemish, a living presence in unchanging material. But how were they made? And what is their uncanny allure?”

“The Musée du quai Branly (Quai Branly Museum), which showcases indigenous art from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, has named Karim Mouttalib as its new general director. … [He had] served as an adjunct delegated general director at the museum since early 2008.”

“The art world has one more event to add to its fall calendar: This November will see the inaugural edition of Abu Dhabi Art, a new festival to take place annually in the United Arab Emirates’ capital city.”