Category: visual

“The new structure, which will add 60,000 square feet of space, reflects how much New York’s small, scrappy New Museum has changed since it opened on the Bowery in 2007, increasing its annual attendance to more than 400,000 from 60,000 and staff to 150 from 30.” – The New York Times

The group is primarily concerned about the latest design’s 10% reduction in size and museum director Michael Govan’s plan to disburse objects from the permanent collection to future satellite exhibition spaces in South Los Angeles and elsewhere. – Los Angeles Times

“With original drawings lost and no digital records, photographs of the historic clock were the only clue experts had about how they might rebuild it. Then French clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot stumbled across an almost identical version while completing an inventory last month at Sainte-Trinité church in northern Paris.” – Yahoo! (AFP)

For museums determined to build collections of today’s contemporary art—which is also getting pricey, as works by women and artists of color steadily gain in value—“it’s a waiting game.”  – Barron’s

Sebastian Smee: “I ask this knowing it is the wrong question. It is wrong not just because huge numbers of people think Renoir is, in fact, great, as well as adorable, joyous and life-affirming. But also because, for many of the rest of us, Renoir is not ‘less than great.’ He is awful. Hideous. Beyond the pale.” – Washington Post

“The 275-year-old auction house — which agreed … to sell itself for $2.66 billion to French telecom tycoon Patrick Drahi — could soon get at least two counteroffers from rival investors, The Post has learned.” – The New York Post

“The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the organisation that oversees Berlin’s state museums, says it will appeal to the United States Supreme Court to dismiss a claim for the Guelph Treasure filed by the heirs of a consortium of Jewish art dealers who say they sold the artefacts under duress in the Nazi era. The heirs say the treasure is worth at least €200m.” – The Art Newspaper

Taring Padi have been inspiring change in Indonesia since the late 1990, and they’re not stopping yet. Why? Well, governmental corruption turns out to be not only the province of one overthrown general, but of much of the new governments as well. – Hyperallergic

The fashion industry in Africa is on the rise, especially in cities like Kinshasa and Capetown. But while fashion designers might get noticed in Paris and New York, models have a different story. As Naomi Campbell noted in 2013, “Top designers often shun black models completely or opted to include just one in their shows.” – Der Spiegel