Category: visual

“Internationally known artists Chris Burden and Nancy Rubins have retired abruptly from their longtime professorships at UCLA in part because the university refused to suspend a graduate student who used a gun during a classroom performance art piece, a spokeswoman for the artists said Friday. ‘They feel this was sort of domestic terrorism. There should have been more outrage and a firmer response’.”

“A picture emerges of a crisis that began on November 29, when in the course of a performance for a class taught by visiting instructor Ron Athey, a graduate student entered a classroom at UCLA’s Warner building where roughly thirty other students were gathered. The student, wearing a coat and tie, produced either a gun or a convincing replica of one, put what looked like a bullet into the weapon, spun the cylinder, and held it to his head, Russian-roulette style. He pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. The student then left the room; while he was out of view, a shot was heard, at which point he returned, now apparently unarmed.”

“As every visitor to Florence will know, the modest dimensions of David’s “pisello” are a running joke with Italians, and the stuff of irreverent postcards. But, in a paper to be published at the end of this month, two Florentine doctors offer a scientific explanation: the poor chap was shrivelled by the threat of mortal danger. Michelangelo’s intention was to depict David as he confronted Goliath.”

The ancient archaeological site of Babylon in Iraq has been extensively damaged by a military base set up in the area by the American military.

Jerry Saltz can’t stop going to the new Museum of Modern Art. Since it’s reopened, he’s made 14 visits. So he has some suggestions for how it could be improved. Nothing major… a rehang here, a new space there…

This is the year collector Charles Saatchi was supposed to be renewing the cause of painting. “In 2005, the celebrated Iraqi/British collector would be reviving the cause of painting. He would be bringing a new batch of painters to the world’s attention with a series of exhibitions called The Triumph of Painting. Part One opens tomorrow. Its title makes a clear bid for legend. It sounds like a chapter in a history book already. So, to start with, let’s put the record straight. All the above story is untrue. Whenever you hear about a revival of painting you should be suspicious.”

What was the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission thinking back in 1978 when it recognized a “22-foot stack of Schlitz beer pallets” as a historic monument? Now the tower is a crumbling, termite-infested hazard, and the artist’s heirs want to tear it down and sell the property. But there’s that problematic cultural designation…

Three years ago, after extensive discussions and a competition, an architect was chosen for a redo of New York’s Queens Museum of Art. Now the museum is abandoning the plan and starting over. “A change in architects may not seem earthshaking. But the Queens Museum’s about-face suggests how a much-heralded public architecture project can be derailed by economics, politics, personalities and competing visions of how an institution operates day to day.”

So you’re an art thief, and you’ve stolen something valuable somewhere in Europe. Where do you go? The Netherlands, say experts. “Art stolen from northern and eastern Europe (Scandinavia, Germany and Russia) is often taken to the Netherlands. The south of the Netherlands near the border with Belgium is particularly popular with criminals. The artworks are smuggled from the Netherlands to Britain or the US.”

The National Gallery of Australia now admits it should have told a health inspector investigating the Gallery that it knew of multiple cancer cases on the staff of the museum.