“Museums are increasingly using the popular market research tool to gather input from the public and refine exhibitions and programmes. … [Yet] some feel that the use of focus groups to develop exhibitions – a practice pioneered by science and history museums – encourages institutions to act more like for-profit businesses than mission-driven entities.”
Category: visual
Christo’s Water Walk Is “Too” Popular, Has To Cut Back Hours
“Plans to keep “The Floating Piers” open day and night until July 3 have had to be shelved as it is being worn out faster than expected, local officials said.”
Police In Spain Seize 10,000 Stolen Artworks And Antiquities
The Guardia Civil has arrested an antiques collector in the town of Bullas and impounded an enormous cache: 4,000 archaeological artifacts, some dating to the Bronze Age; 5,000 rare coins; 150 relics, included a supposed piece of the True Cross once certified by the Vatican; 40 paintings; and 30 manuscripts, including a late medieval Book of Psalms.
There Was One Student Left In USC’s Art MFA Program, And She Just Dropped Out
“It’s been a year since the entire incoming MFA class at USC’s Roski School of Art decided to drop out en masse, leaving the program with only one student this year, HaeAhn Kwon. In an open letter to Provost Michael Quick, Kwon announced today that she too would be leaving the program, citing ‘the devastating trajectory this school has taken.'”
The Most Expensive Cubist Painting Ever Sold Just Went For $63.7 Million
“Picasso’s Femme Assise, painted in the summer of 1909 – when the artist traveled to the remote Spanish village of Horta de Ebro, which could only be reached by mule – sold for $63.7 million at Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday, making it the most expensive Cubist painting ever sold at auction.”
Romania Tries Crowdfunding To Keep Brancusi Sculpture In Country
“Wisdom of the Earth is a 50cm (20in) tall sculpture carved from limestone in a primitive modernist style. … Dating to 1907 or 1908, it is one of just a few Brâncuşi works remaining in his homeland. The government has pledged €5m towards the €11m price, much lower than its estimated value of €15m-20m, and is seeking the rest from private contributions by 30 September.”
How Christo Built His Floating Walkway
“The spectacle part is easy—the floating paths almost compel visitors to try them out, and [the town of] Sulzano expects about 40,000 people a day. But making them work was tricky.”
Lost Gauguin Still Life Turns Up In Connecticut
“A still-life of flowers by Paul Gauguin – which hung for 30 years in the home of a retired Manhattan antiques dealer, who did not know it was by the artist – has been rediscovered by a Connecticut auction house.”
‘The Alpha And Omega Of Restoration Projects’ At Jerusalem’s Church Of The Holy Sepulchre
“They are going to repair Jesus’ tomb – with titanium bolts. Over the next nine months, a team of Greek conservationists will restore the collapsing chapel built above and around the burial cave where the faithful believe that Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after the Crucifixion.”
New Tate Modern Breaks Attendance Records
“Tate said there had been 143,000 visits since the revamped and expanded modern art gallery opened on Friday. On Saturday alone there were more than 54,000 visits – around double the usual visitor number and the highest ever attendance for a single day.”