Category: visual

“Iranian cultural heritage officials are on a collision course with rural communities after embarking on a legal crusade to reclaim the hills and nearby land on which, they believe, once stood the city of Jondishapour, where the Persian King Shapour I vanquished the Roman emperor Valerian more than 1,700 years ago. They have issued cultivation bans and pressed criminal charges against dozens of farmers accused of destroying parts of the archaeologically sensitive 300-hectare (741-acre) site.”

The Tate now says it made a “technical error” in seeking money from the National Art Collection Fund to buy a work by Chris Ofili, one of the Tate’s trustees. “The Tate did not tell the fund it had already committed itself to purchasing The Upper Room when it made its application in November 2004. Last month Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota wrote a letter to the body offering to repay its £75,000 grant.”

Of the some 14,000 artifacts stolen in Iraq, only about 5,500 have been recovered. “US military sources say forces in Iraq have no systematic way of investigating the missing objects, and in the ongoing insurgency neither US or Iraqi forces can justify using scarce manpower to guard sites in the countryside, where widespread looting has continued since the March 2003 US invasion. Law enforcement organizations worldwide are chasing the lost items, but their representatives said there is no systematic coordination, and they are relying on a shifting set of ad hoc partnerships to bring the thieves to account.”

One sign of how wealthy New York’s contemporary art galleries have become? The luxurious ways in which they’re promoting themselves. “Each day’s mail seems to deliver a series of challenges and counter-challenges from the galleries that consider themselves in the upper echelon of the upper echelon. Instead of chest-puffing, ruffed fur or antlers, it’s paper worthy of an invitation from the White House. Conveyance by liveried coachmen would not surprise.”

Renzo Piano’s expansion of Atlanta’s High Museum doubles the previous museum space. What effect has the extension had on the museum? “More than one-third of the High’s collection, including works by Gerhard Richter and the team of Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, was acquired after the museum announced its plans for expansion in 1999. Michael Shapiro, director of the High, attributes the stepped-up interest on the part of donors and patrons to Mr. Piano’s reputation for showcasing art. This is not the first time the High has used architecture to draw attention: in 1983, it unveiled a building designed by Richard Meier that is still considered one of his most important works.”

Italian investigators were in New York last week to meet with officials at the Metropolitan Museum to talk about 22 items in the Met collection the Italians say were stolen. “In Rome, the Italian culture minister said yesterday that the Italian government had made overtures to the Met’s director, Philippe de Montebello, about a joint meeting to discuss ancient artworks that Italy claims were illegally excavated and exported before entering the museum’s collection of Greek and Roman art.”

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is on the list of museums Italian authorities say have stolen art in their collections. “The Italians support their claim on the Minneapolis piece with a photo of a pottery fragment that appears to match the vase. ‘We’ve not received any notification from the Italians and have no proof that the object was looted,’ said William Griswold, the museum’s director. ‘If we have reason to believe an object has been stolen, we would absolutely want to respond in an ethical and legally responsible fashion’.”

Chicago is famous for its skyscrapers. But a whole new generation of soaring edifaces is being proposed that would transform the skyline. “Every week, it seems, a rendering of a new tower is splashed across the front page or the business page in the hopes of generating positive “buzz” and attracting potential buyers and investors. Some of this may be pure hucksterism. Nothing like a sexy architect’s rendering to drum up a prospective tenant or two. Still, every proposal bears watching. It’s the ugly one we ignore that — surprise! — will get built.”

Italian authorities have contacted Princeton University about two vases they say were stolen from Italy. “This week, Princeton said it had been contacted in December 2004 by Italian law enforcement officials about the vases, which university officials said the museum legally acquired in 1989.”

“For the past century, artefacts have been stored away in crates there and forgotten, often allowed to disintegrate in the dank, dusty cavern. Forgotten until now. The recent theft and recovery of three statues from the basement have prompted antiquity officials in Egypt to increase an effort already under way to complete the first comprehensive inventory of artefacts in the basement.”