Category: visual

“The original 1895 building of the Modern and contemporary art museum has been refurbished and an extension added that overlooks the city’s Museumplein. The new building” – which really does resemble an uninstalled bathtub seen from below – “has been designed by Amsterdam-based Benthem Crouwel Architects.”

Bel Borba is from Salvador do Bahia, whose “streets, walls, plazas and beaches have been his canvas since the late 1970s. He is a well-known, even beloved, figure there, regularly greeted on the street by residents who encourage him to come and work in their neighborhoods.” He’s now doing his first residency in New York.

“In the tumult surrounding MOCA over the last six months — an erratic art program, grim staffing issues, real funding problems, sharp divisions among trustees, etc. — the Broad takeover myth has become deeply entrenched. But it makes no business sense, and Broad is nothing if not a savvy businessman.”

“The culture minister Lorenzo Ornaghi said that ‘Brera has been stagnant for the last 40 years’ and the government officially announced plans this week to hand over the museum’s management to the Fondazione La Grande Brera. Milan’s head of culture Stefano Boeri stresses that ‘foundations are not-for-profit’. Critics have condemned the move as ‘privatisation’ and ‘selling off’ Italy’s heritage.”

“It is estimated that 380 billion images were taken last year, most with a camera phone. Over 380 million photos are uploaded on Facebook every day. Instagram is growing exponentially and had four billion photos uploaded as of July 2012.”

“Modern architecture’s gleaming glass and steel towers are pervasive in our cities and have been for almost a century. Will it persist, or is it simply another in a long list of styles tracing back to the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, fated to be replaced by the next hot thing?”

Callum Innes “begins from a point at the very heart of the classical tradition of abstract painting, and he remains true to that tradition, especially its conjectural nature: the urge to continually explore and test what a painting is or might be. In this respect, he’s been called an ‘unpainter.'”

“Photography has become so thoroughly prostituted as a means of visual exchange, available to all or none for every purpose under the sun (or none worthy of the name), that it is easy to forget that until relatively recently one of the most important consequences of fearless photographic practice was to tell the truth about power.”

Sarah Pickstone, whose entry won out over more than 3000 other entries, is the first woman to win the John Moores Painting Prize since 1989.

“With many art museums pondering how to boost attendance – and some critics, curators and museum directors wondering whether maximizing crowds is really the best measure of success – it’s worth noting that Prada beat Picasso in recent blockbuster shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”