Category: visual

“Faded and fractured, the reddish-orange image depicts a plump but slender-legged animal, probably a species of wild cattle that still lives on the island, or simply dinner in the eyes of the artist, if one streak of ochre that resembles a spear protruding from its flank is any guide. The animal is one of a trio of large creatures that adorn a wall in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesian Borneo.”

The reattribution of Kitchen Maid (ca. 1620) “is the result of new conservation and research by the institution’s chief paintings conservator, Zahira Bomford … When she removed layers of wax, resin and repainting that marred the painting and completed various technical studies, she and others at the museum became convinced that her hunch was true.”

Drone photography could be described as a collaboration or a co-production between man and nature. It allows nature to speak on its own terms but in a novel new way. If photomicrography undresses nature, drone photography with its plumb-line overhead view shows us nature at an angle we’ve never seen before, exposing its pixel treasures, many of which throw a shade over any abstract art produced by an artist.

“Following a network of leads, many from underworld contacts, [former Scotland Yard detective Charles] Hill is convinced that the Gardner treasures are still stashed in the Republic of Ireland. ‘Even if Bulger did not order the robbery originally, he would have muscled in and taken control of the haul soon after it took place. … Whitey felt he owed one to his friends in the Republic. I believe he offered them the paintings.”

“There are several large questions there. The Met is obviously an enormous institution—it’s the supertanker of the museum world—and change is complex there, since it’s an administration-heavy institution. I’m looking forward to working in an institution where I can have more direct contact with many of the key players and the program, where the touch on the tiller is faster and more responsive than it is in a big, bureaucratic institution like the Met.”

In a slightly different twist on the usual heedless-selfiers-wreck-priceless-art tale, a group of four girls at an exhibition in Yekaterinburg gathered for a snap on one side of a temporary wall — and on the other side were hanging Goya’s Bravissimo! etching from Los Caprichos and Dalí’s riff on said etching. The girls knocked the wall over; it landed on top of the artworks and barely missed another museumgoer. (includes video)

“Innovative presentation techniques are planned throughout: entire walls will become cinema screens, individual cocoons will hold oral histories, and handheld mobile devices will guide visitors through the museum’s displays.” (Nouvel also designed the other enormous new museum in the Gulf: the Louvre Abu Dhabi.)

Scientists researching ancient inscriptions happened upon a ramp with stairways and a series of what they believe to be postholes, which suggest that the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought.

What can possibly be the appeal? The answer lies in our desire for mastery and elucidation. The ability to enhance a life by bringing scaled-down order and illumination to an otherwise chaotic world – a world over which we may otherwise feel we have little control – cannot be overvalued. The fascination of holding in our hands something completely realised at an impossibly reduced scale is a wholly fulfilling one, and the satisfactions of inquisitive observation will never tire. At its simplest, the miniature shows us how to see, learn and appreciate more with less.

The pair of untitled tapestries, worth roughly €1 million, were disfigured (ironically, by a leaky sink, not the floodwaters themselves) during last week’s record-breaking high water. A specialty tapestry factory was able to clean the works, dry them, and get them back to Venice in time for the opening of an exhibition last week — a turnaround time of two days.