Category: visual

When AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus snapped a photo of an Italian soldier standing in front of his bombed-out military barracks last week in Iraq, she created an image which would wind up on the front pages of more than 50 newspapers around the world. That unanimity of editorial taste proves once and for all that news photography can rise to the level of art, says Alan Artner, and Niedringhaus’ photo is a perfect example of the undervalued genre of war photography. “Some war photographs record destruction; others present human reaction. Niedringhaus’ combines the two. Or does it?”

In 2002, architect Jean Nouvel was hired by Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center to design a $90 million addition to its building. But “Carnegie Museums terminated Nouvel’s contract in May for failing to produce a scheme that could be built for that amount,” and withheld a chunk of the money it had promised the architect. A legal battle ensued, but now it appears that a settlement is near.

“If the Barnes Foundation wins court permission to move its famed art collection to Center City, the Pew Charitable Trusts, not the Barnes itself, could take charge of administering the $150 million needed to build a new Barnes museum and endow it.”

“I’ve been covering the art market for a decade now, but I usually don’t bother to attend the sales. Every time I do, I’m reminded how mysterious, confusing, and surreal art auctions are. Historians talk about “the fog of war,” which makes it virtually impossible for even commanding generals to know what’s really happening during a battle. Well, when it comes to generating fog, war doesn’t have anything on an art auction.”

Twenty U.S. legislators are asking the Smithsonian Museum to remove beer logos from a historic stunt plane being displayed there. The logos were added to the plane twenty years ago as part of a sponsorship deal, but the legislators say that they are an inappropriate advertisement and inducement to young people to drink. Not surprisingly, the company which paid to have its logo splashed all over the plane is objecting to the attempt to have it removed.

There may be two sides to every story, but Lisa Rochon sees the current dust-up over the new World Trade Center design as nothing more than art squaring off against pure American capitalist greed. “Pay attention to the American way. Appreciate it fully. A calamity like 9/11 cannot weaken the aspirations of Larry Silverstein, the private developer who wants to broadside Daniel Libeskind’s winning scheme in order to build his own version of unfettered capitalism. At this rate, he will triumph. And when he does, any doubt as to why the WTC was targeted in the first place will be, like the twin towers, obliterated.”

The Taiwanese government putting together financing for a $400 million Guggenheim outpost on the island, has told the Guggenheim it can’t yet raise the money it had promised, and has asked for a six month extension of the deal. Thomas Krens said “he could not understand why the budgeting should be a snag. He wanted Taichung mayor Jason Hu to give him a timetable for the establishment of the Guggenheim museum in Taichung. No timetable is available, however. Hu is not certain if and when the Legislative Yuan would approve the special funding.”

“A Dutch museum says it has found a painting by Vincent Van Gogh which had been unrecognised for years after being given away by his mother. The Breda Museum said the painting was found during research on an exhibition about the artist. The piece, dubbed Houses In The Hague, was found in a collection owned by a ‘trustworthy collector’, it added. The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam said it was yet to confirm whether or not the painting was genuine.”

Eight finalists are announced for a memorial at the World Trade Center. “It’s a very moving moment. The memorial is at the heart of the site. It defines everything around it.”

“For better or worse, we are living in baroque if not byzantine times. Some of our most impressive contemporary architecture reflects this. All eight designs chosen as finalists for a memorial of the World Trade Center disaster bear strong traces of it, to a greater or lesser degree. Each of them suffers as a result.