Category: visual

In Ohio, Thomas Condon “photographed corpses juxtaposed with various objects signifying the cycle of life and death. Some of the confiscated negatives were mysteriously leaked to the local press, inciting a public furor as relatives of the deceased and local pundits denounced Mr. Condon’s project as ‘sick’ and ‘repulsive’. Despite support from civil libertarian groups like the National Coalition Against Censorship, Mr. Condon was convicted and imprisoned from April to August 2002, after which he was released pending appeal. Now a state appeals court has affirmed his conviction, meaning he may face another 13 months in jail.”

“All this year’s artists are extremely well-known, and in their 30s or early 40s. Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate director and chairman of the judges, conceded: ‘This is not a Turner Prize devoted to the newest of the new or the youngest of the young’. The artists were chosen from 150 names, nominated by members of the public and the jury, of which 25 were seriously debated. Sir Nicholas described it as ‘a wonderful, strong, diverse shortlist’.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher has asked the Barnes Foundation to change its petition requesting that the Barnes be allowed to move to Philadelphia. Among the requrested changes are “a ban on selling any of the art that is on display in the Barnes gallery, and the preservation of founder Albert C. Barnes’ arrangements of the artwork in unique ensembles.”

“Ask the current generation of emerging artists what an ‘alternative space’ is, and you?ll likely get a vague response. Associated with the 1970s and the experimental art and installations of that period, such venues are no longer as much of an ‘alternative’ to commercial galleries in the content or opportunities they provide.”

The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati is the “first major American art museum designed by a woman. It is also the first major American commission completed by the London-based Zaha Hadid, one of the profession’s most precocious talents. But the best reason to fall in love with the building is its seductive pull.”

This year’s shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize have been selected. “The four nominees, all British artists under 50, include a transvestite who depicts himself involved in sex acts on the surface of his pottery vases.”

The Canadian parliament passes a resolution urging Britain to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece (Prime Mininister Jean Chretien, traveling in Athens, says he doesn’t know anything about the resolution when asked at a press conference).

Dennis Savill was inspecting a painting by Lloyd Rees at Sotheby’s when he noticed a second piece of canvas tacked under the painting. He paid $94,500 for the 1957 oil, then took it to a conservateur who removed the canvases from their frame and discovered another Rees behind the first. It might even be a better painting than the painting Savill thought he was buying.

Waves of looters are combing over Iraqi archaeological sites, picking them clean and disposing of artifacts on the black market. “The Iraqi police force, which disintegrated at the end of the war, is not only powerless but afraid to stop the heavily armed groups that now prowl over dozens of sites. American soldiers are generally too occupied with reducing street crime and restoring basic services like electricity to pay much attention. As for the people who live near the big archaeological sites in southern Iraq, they became so poor under Mr. Hussein that they are grasping at any means to make money.”

The Royal Ontario Museum is holding a ceremonial groundbreaking today to kick off a $200 million renovation and expansion, and sources say that the ROM may have locked up one of the major gifts it needs to fund the project. “Insiders are abuzz with unconfirmed reports that [Canadian philanthropist Galen] Weston is about to hand over $25 million — which could put the ROM close to its phase one campaign goal of $150 million, and position the museum fundraising blitz to move into phase two, with a goal of an additional $50 million for a total of $200 million.”