Category: visual

Damien Hirst’s shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde was recently sold for $12 million. But “the shark has deteriorated noticeably to the naked eye since it was first unveiled at the Saatchi Gallery in 1992. The formaldehyde solution in which it is suspended is murky while the skin of the animal is showing signs of wear and tear.”

Philadelphia has long been an architectural throwback by American standards – a huge but almost entirely horizontal city of rowhouses and sprawling urban landscapes, with only a few towering skyscrapers marking its colonial-era downtown. But a new round of development is threatening to take the city vertical, and while residents and historians are understandably wary of becoming just another overcrowded concrete jungle, there may be some virtue in the towers now rising in the city center. “The new skyscrapers are a largely stylish and urbane group – especially compared with designs in other downtowns. Despite some clumsy assemblages of historical parts, most have the virtue of clean, sleek lines. A few even aspire to artful design.”

Baseball stadiums don’t generally have the architectural cachet of, say, museums or skyscrapers. But if you consider how many people are directly affected by the design of a building, it’s hard to top baseball parks in the civic impact department. Washington, D.C. has a new baseball team, of course, and will shortly have a new park to keep it in. The question is, how will the design of the ballpark affect the city, and vice versa? “The park represents a giant architectural and planning opportunity for the nation’s capital, a rare chance to build a splendid, 21st-century ‘gateway’ structure near a major bridge and within site of the Capitol dome. And to help revive a river and a section of the city.”

Sculptor Richard Serra is in talks with officials in Ontario to save a 1972 work of his that stands in a Toronto suburb. “Its ownership is in some doubt, as is its future. According to some scenarios, developers could well chuck it in the dump to add a few more suburban monster homes… Shift, hidden on a patch of farmland just west of Dufferin St. near King City, was commissioned by Roger Davidson, a leading Canadian collector from a family of land developers who were also lifelong supporters of the Art Gallery of Ontario.” Serra has a history of fiercely defending any of his sculptures which are threatened with removal.

The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, a monthlong extravaganza designed to revive Russia as a center of modern art, launched last week, the first such festival to be held in Russia since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. “Until the biennial actually opened, there were doubts that it would. Although the project was more than a year in the planning, its exhibitions were selected and installed in a desperate scramble, its organizers and curators having encountered innumerable obstacles, not the least the conservatism of Russia’s cultural bureaucracies.”

A new Cesar Pelli-designed central library is rising in downtown Minneapolis, and residents are beginning to wonder about the thoroughly modern design, particularly how it will fit in in a city not known for its bold architectural tastes. Everyone’s first question: what exactly is that giant wing floating above the avenue? “Is it a giant letter opener? A paper airplane? A loading dock from Star Wars?” Actually, it’s just supposed to make you look at it. “The library lacks a grand entrance, so the wing acts as a spectacle that announces its presence.”

“The art collection of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace could fetch up to $17m when it is auctioned in New York and London later this year. Among the pictures for sale are works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Henri Matisse… The auction, at Sotheby’s, will feature 45 contemporary, impressionist and 19th Century paintings. One of the highlights of the sale is Roy Lichtenstein’s Blue Nude which has been given an estimate of $3.4m.”

Nicolai Ourousoff laments the place of design in the new Museum of Modern Art. “Whether because of a loss of imagination or the distraction of a high-profile $858 million building project, the department was already losing momentum before the museum closed for renovation five years ago. The reopening of the architecture and design galleries was an opportunity to reclaim, even trumpet, the museum’s role in shaping the conversation about architecture. Instead, the department has limited itself to passively documenting current architectural trends.”

The Museum of Modern Art presnts a show of art donated to the museum by corporations. Roberta Smith isn’t impressed. “Not a good sign, you might say. It certainly deflates the heightened commitment to cutting-edge art that the Modern so emphatically telegraphed with its new design and distribution of display space.” This is a stopgap show thrown together without a soul. “With the majority of the art dating from the late 1970’s to the early 90’s, the show feels redundant and familiar, as if it were all purchased inside a few square blocks of SoHo during the last art boom.”

Katharine Reid is stepping down as director of the Cleveland Museum of Art after five years in the job. Reid’s surprise announcement comes “a month before trustees are to vote on going ahead with a major expansion and renovation. She said she was stepping down for personal reasons and in the best interests of the museum. She wants to give the institution a chance to find fresh leadership if it begins a construction project that could last five years or more.”