Category: visual

“Without Boundary” is “the most important exhibit MoMA has launched in at least a decade, and it’s the first exhibition of contemporary art from the Islamic world in a major American museum since 9/11.” But “the exhibition is a reminder of the difficulties that museums face when it comes to merging — or not — art and politics.”

British journalist Peter Watson has testified against former Getty curator Marion True, linking her to an Italian smuggler.

“Though still in its infancy, the appetite for contemporary Chinese art is booming in Europe and Asia. Betting that the trend is fast moving West, Sotheby’s has put together a sale that includes some of China’s hottest names. The auction house has timed it to coincide with Asia Week, the annual round of sales and exhibitions that draw dealers and collectors from across the globe to New York each spring.”

Architect Frank Gehry unveils a new line of jewelry for Tiffany. “The 76-year-old architect, who reached a whole new level of fame on the silvery sails of Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Bilbao, is the first new artist to be introduced by Tiffany since Paloma Picasso in 1980. The collection is comprised of six series named after recurring motifs in Gehry’s work: Fish, Torque, Axis, Fold, Equus and Orchid.”

The Art Newspaper’s annual museum acquisitions survey reveals latest trends in museum collecting. “In 2005, the overwhelming majority of museums chose to focus on established, mid-career and post-war artists, such as Ed Ruscha and Jasper Johns, whose artistic reputations are already secured. Leading the list of most sought-after artists in 2005 is modernist giant Jasper Johns, with five museums acquiring his work.”

The Berlin Biennial is not just another mix-and-match show. “Flawed and frequently jarring it may be, but this is an important, timely exhibition. This is no survey show, no feebly themed free-for-all. It is not just another biennial. The curators have attempted to construct if not a narrative, then a journey.”

The British Museum says that more than 2000 items are missing from its collection and that 28 items have been stolen in recent years. “While the thefts represent a tiny fraction of the 150 million items in the library’s possession, the stolen items are valued at £100,000, with a number of rare maps and illustrated plates ripped from antique books by international thieves. A single plate cut from a 1522 volume on Pompeii is worth £45,000.”

David Marks and Julia Barfield spent years getting the London Eye built. It’s become a modern landmark icon. So what do you do as a followup? There is that problem of being typecast…

“Until five or 10 years ago, almost all exhibitions took place in quite a small circuit of museums, in Europe and the US, and perhaps Japan and Korea. Now that has changed quite profoundly. We can take the collection to Africa, to China, and they can use it as they want, because in each case it has a different public to address, and a different story to tell.”

Maxwell Anderson, former director of the Whitney Museum, has been named director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “At the IMA, Anderson will lead a multifaceted institution with a $325 million endowment; a $20 million annual operating budget; 320 employees; a collection of more than 50,000 artworks; and $74 million worth of expanded facilities.”