Category: visual

Leonardo began work on The Adoration of the Magi in 1481 and abandoned it a year later. “The current restoration project, which began three years ago, has removed much of the dull, oxidized varnish as well as traces of past restoration attempts, revealing many previously hidden details, facial expressions and subtleties of light and shadow.”

The Altamira caves, which had been closed since 2002 out of worries that moisture and body heat from tourists could ultimately damage the 18,000-year-old paintings, were opened earlier this year to a maximum of five visitors for one hour per week. Researchers say there’s been no perceptible damage to the art, and the experiment will continue for at least five more months.

“Freak weather events caused around €1.5m worth of damage to Florence’s institutions last week, including the Uffizi Galleries, which were evacuated and closed for the day.”

“For the first time this year, the public votes and juried votes will run along parallelled tracks. Both the jury and the public will be mulling over the same four categories, awarding prizes with the same amount of money for each category at $20,000 and awarding an equal Grand Prize of $200,000.”

It was a “major creative breakthrough for me—the idea that intentional wrongness could yield strangely pleasing results. Of course I was familiar with the idea of rule-breaking innovation—that each generation reacts against the one that came before it, starting revolutions, turning its back on tired conventions. But this was different. I wasn’t just throwing out the rulebook and starting from scratch. I was following the rules, then selectively breaking one or two for maximum impact.”

“Social sculpture” is the term that artist – and new MacArthur Fellow – Rick Lowe uses to describe Project Row Houses, which functions as both visual and conceptual art, social housing (notably for young single mothers), and art incubator and exhibitor.

“The idea that the next appointed director has one year to establish plans for curriculum and development is a very refreshing thing,” Hernan Diaz Alonso said.

“It’s often easy to spot the architecture department at universities: it’s the one in the really ugly building. Or else it has some bizarre structure attached, the relic of a short-lived and forgotten fad promoted by an ex-professor.”

“Sunlight will be filtered through the building’s perforated façade on to a vast internal garden, while a large-scale water feature will be installed on the museum’s sprawling open-air roof terrace.”

“Asked if staff at the MCA was feeling full-court pressure, Erica Erdmann, senior preparer of exhibitions, said: ‘Everyone here loves David Bowie. No matter what.'”