Category: visual

As the American Institute of Architects descends on his city for a convention, John King offers some guidance. “To all of you, welcome. And while you get your bearings, remember this: San Francisco defies expectations in more ways than one. When it comes to architecture, here are seven misconceptions to toss into the recycling bin on your way to the Ferry Building….”

“Ramping up his campaign against the Art Institute of Chicago’s pending 50-percent general admission increase, Ald. Ed Burke (14th) is trying to compel the museum to increase its free hours by enforcing an ordinance that is more than 100 years old.” The law, from 1891, “specified that the Art Institute would offer free admission on Wednesdays, Saturdays and a half-day on Sundays.”

“Today, First Lady Michelle Obama will help unveil [Artis] Lane’s bronze bust of Sojourner Truth, a former slave and women’s rights activist that will be the first sculpture of a black woman in the U.S. Capitol. The ceremony will take place in Emancipation Hall at the newly opened Capitol Visitor Center.”

“[W]hen the National Trust for Historic Preservation assembles its annual roster of America’s most endangered historic places, it looks for more than aesthetic distinction. Each year the trust selects what it considers important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of being destroyed or irreparably damaged.” The 2009 list is unveiled.

“Roger Hiorns, who transformed a condemned south London flat into a cavern filled with eerie blue crystals, is among the four artists nominated for the 2009 Turner prize, it was announced this morning. Also on the list is Enrico David, 43, … who creates collages, drawings and sculpture; Glasgow-based Lucy Skaer, 34, who often bases her drawings on photojournalism; and Richard Wright, 49, a maker of sparse, delicately crafted wall paintings who is also based in Glasgow.”

“Sotheby’s, the world’s largest auctioneer by sales, will slash its dividend to 20 cents a year from 60 cents and plans further job cuts to reduce costs because of a decline in the art market and the wider economy. The company aims for a further 5 percent drop in global headcount following a 15 percent reduction being achieved under cuts announced last year. Executive pay is being squeezed by at least 10 percent….”

“The decision to send more than a hundred paintings by the English Romantic artist J M W Turner to be exhibited in Beijing … was a hugely symbolic move,” but it’s “looking limp” already. “The Foreign Office had to make an emergency request to the Treasury for permission to underwrite the near-priceless collection against loss or damage … when the Chinese made it clear they would not accept any financial responsibility for the paintings.”

After some ham-handed maneuvers by the suddenly budget-conscious city of Miami Beach, Frank Gehry has left a concert-hall project there, headlines blaring. “Gehry, however, is hardly the first architect to become embroiled in the kind of spat that goes down in architectural history books. The ghost of the brilliant Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, must surely haunt Sydney Opera House” — and the list goes on….

What a British auction house claims are a set of paintings and sketches by a young Adolf Hitler sold at auction Thursday for 97,672 pounds ($143,358).

David Stork “is a physicist, and he’s used modernoptical science and a good bit of computing power to make a virtual, 3-D copy of the world that Vermeer gave us in two dimensions in about 1665. His techniques do for art historians, he says, ‘just what a microscope does for biologists. We can now reveal things in art that we didn’t see before’.”