Category: visual

“The legal details have not attracted as much attention as the prospect of a nasty grudge match between two men known for their volcanic tempers, relentless empire building and refusal to take no for an answer.”

“Perhaps only a post-industrial social democracy as progressive as Norway–surely among the most enlightened of all contemporary nations, with as good a claim as any other to being a thoroughly evolved and humane society–could have produced an architectural office such as this.”

“A federal judge in Washington declared the Russian government in contempt of court for ignoring his 2010 order that it must return a disputed massive archive of historic religious books and manuscripts known as the Schneerson Collection to the New York-based [Hasidic organization] Chabad. The judge imposed fines of $50,000 a day.”

“The Chinese tradition of duplication as power and control goes back to the Qing dynasty and earlier, and permeates modern Chinese culture.” The copies of European landmarks say, “We can pick and choose whatever we want, including owning a piece of the West. In fact, we’re so rich we can own the West without even having to go there.”

“The Menil Collection has decided to remove “The Art Guys Marry A Plant” from their collection.”

“The Syrian civil war is not the first conflict to complicate Professor Nicolò Marchetti’s efforts to turn Karkemish, an ancient city site on the banks of the Euphrates, on Turkey’s southern border and inside a restricted military zone, into a public archaeology park.”

“Her departure leaves only two curators at MOCA (Alma Ruiz and Bennett Simpson), down from a high of seven curators in early 2009. That year the museum implemented various cost-cutting measures and layoffs, following a financial crisis and bailout by trustee Eli Broad.”

“A small, picturesque city 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, Cholula is said to have a church for every day of the year. There are, in reality, about 80 in all, many dating to the 17th century and filled with paintings and sculptures from that time. It is enough to draw hordes of worshipers – and thieves.”

Scandinivian artists Elmgreen and Dragset, who are behind the project: “For ages the Fourth Plinth was a problem for London. It just stood there, empty. Then it became one of the most fantastic art projects. … Maybe Munich does not have enough problems, so we are bringing them one.”

“The light playing across the 4.5-metre-tall standing stone is that of cosmic particles as they dance through the Earth’s atmosphere. Or rather, as they are detected at the Super-Kamiokande observatory at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Ray Research.”