Category: visual

Jerusalem’s newly unveiled peace monument, “the gift of a Polish billionaire, was erected on the invisible seam between one of the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and the predominantly Jewish West… [The area] been a site of tremendous discord, a tangible reminder of how fractured the city really is.”

“For decades the Berlin Wall was the physical symbol of the Cold War “Iron Curtain” between East and West. But since it was breached in 1989, one remaining part of the wall has taken on a new role, as a 1.3km art gallery. Age and graffiti have taken their toll on the art, however, and a 2.2m euro project is now under way to restore it.”

“More than a third of 1,111 people surveyed thought Birmingham had the ugliest buildings in the country.”

“A team of archaeologists, scientists and software programmers has created a 3D virtual model of the city of Cologne as it was 2,000 years ago. Though not yet online, the software allows visitors to fly through the city in its Roman glory.”

The super-seller is no. 1 on the British magazine’s list of the art world’s most powerful people for the second time; runners-up include dealer Larry Gagosian and MoMA’s Kathy Halbreich.

Carlton Hobbs “has been selling museum-quality antiques at eye-popping prices for the last three years and staking his claim to the top tier of the New York market.” But mere months after his brother, an antiquities dealer in London, was busted for manufacturing and selling fake antiques, Hobbs is facing a raft of similar allegations.

“More than 250 guests gathered yesterday… for a symbolic ‘wall breaking’ to launch construction of a $74 million, 220,000-square-foot expansion of the companion to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The new wing is to open in 2011.”

The Guardian reveals the five top-selling living artists of 2007 (that’s last year, which is why Damien Hirst is not no. 1), with additional lists for dead artists and women artists.

Observers suggest that, while Korean artists cover a wide range of themes, styles and media, there’s not much of a common underlying identity (such as post-Cultural Revolution China or the influence of anime in Japan). But with prices for Chinese art rising, collectors are finally noticing Korean work.

“Swiss customs found a book of sketches by Pablo Picasso which could be worth 1.2-1.7 million Swiss francs ($1.06-$1.50 million) in a passenger’s luggage at Zurich airport, the government said on Wednesday.”