World-renowned exhibit specialists team up on Heritage Center
expansion
Kelly Hagen, Great
Plains Examiner, February 23, 2012
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA - "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. That
mantra probably lies at the heart of the current $51.7 million expansion of
the North Dakota Heritage Center, which will triple the size of the
current site that had, quite plainly, run out of room to tell our state’s
entire history. "We’re
missing the last seven decades, 70 years, of North Dakota history in our
current gallery because we’re out of space," said Claudia Berg, expansion coordinator for the State Historical
Society. "We’re missing
everything basically from World War I forward." That gap in
history will be closed by a massive expansion of the Heritage Center that is
underway. The work is now just a little over 25 percent finished, with the
expected completion scheduled to take place on the 125th anniversary of North
Dakota’s statehood, Nov. 2, 2014. The center already attracts approximately
100,000 visitors per year. But the expansion will make it a state-of-the-art
complex with 33,093 square feet of exhibit space that will include new,
interactive content that will attract many more visitors to the state’s most
prominent visual access point to its long history. That exhibit space is
being designed by a collection of three of the world’s pre-eminent exhibit
firms, joined together under the title of the Great Plains Exhibit
Development Joint Venture. Lord Cultural Resources, Taylor Studios and
Xibitz, Inc. have collaborated before on projects such as the Lady Bird
Johnson Wildflower Center of Austin, Texas, the Army Museum of Singapore and
the National Archaeological Museum of Aruba. And now their attention has been
turned to North Dakota, after inking a contract with the Historical Society
on Nov. 24. "The exhibit
company that we hired has worldwide experience," Berg said. "So we’ve hired the best to help and assist us with this."
Chicago wraps up the first set of meetings to map out the
2012 cultural plan
Alison Cuddy, WBEZ91.5,
22 February 2012
CHICAGO, IL - "If you
can mandate these meetings, mandate some money!" That was one of many
recommendations greeted with applause and hollers at a local meeting last
night, held at the National Museum of Mexican Fine Art in Chicago's
Pilsen neighborhood. The meeting was convened by the City's Department of Cultural
Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) - it was the last of four town halls
that have served to kick off the department's 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan.
After introductory remarks from DCASE commissioner Michelle Boone and Orit
Sarfaty, a consultant at Lord Cultural Resources (the Toronto-based firm
hired by the City to help with the plan), it was the public's turn to get
cracking. Armed with notepads and pens, people broke into nine groups
numbering about twelve to over 25 in size. They listed their experiences and
expectations of culture in Chicago, and provided advice on how to get from
"here to there" (there being the year 2030, a somewhat loose target
date suggested by DCASE)." [the article is
accompanied by several audio clips]
African-American museum in North Brentwood hopes to build
identity, overcome tragedies
Major fundraising campaign aims to have site ready for 2016 debut
Jeffrey K. Lyles, Gazette.net, 21 February 2012
NORTH BRENTWOOD, MD - "Watching too many television reports and
reading numerous newspaper stories on the latest round of Prince George’s
County homicides — many involving African-American youth — during the 1990s
had taken its toll on town officials of North Brentwood, the first
African-American municipality in the county, said former mayor Lillian K.
Beverly. "Frankly I was tired. We were tired of hearing about the
murders of our young people and the police arresting our children," said
Beverly, who served as mayor from 1995 to 2007. "It’s very difficult to
move ahead when you have an identification problem." One of the main
stumbling blocks for youth was that they had no sense of perspective of their
past and the struggles of their ancestors, Beverly said, so officials began
working toward sharing that history with the creation of a museum that would
highlight the contributions of African-Americans in North Brentwood and the
county in general. Sixteen years after the initial planning began in 1996,
town officials are preparing to launch a massive fundraising campaign to help
pay for the $20 million Prince George’s African American Museum &
Cultural Center at North Brentwood, which they hope to establish as a new
county destination spot. The expected opening is in 2016. From 2003 to 2009,
the group raised nearly $9 million in grants from the federal government,
county redevelopment authority and state board of public works that was used
to acquire the property, hire staff, purchase/renovate administrative
buildings and rent a portion of Brentwood’s Gateway Arts Center to create
Gallery 110, a mini exhibit space to showcase artists and galleries."
Jorn Weisbrodt talks Luminato
Richard Ouzounian, The Toronto Star, 21 February 2012
TORONTO, ON - "Jorn Weisbrodt, the newly appointed artistic
director of Luminato, will appear with me on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
at the Toronto Public Reference Library as part of the “Star Talks” series.
To prime the pump, I asked him a few questions about his opinion of Toronto,
his recent years of work as producer for avant-garde director Robert Wilson,
and his hopes and dreams for Luminato.
Q. What was your first impression of Toronto, both as a city and as
an artistic capital?
A. There are two ways of ideally approaching Toronto. One is to land
at the (Billy Bishop Toronto) City Airport on a Porter Airlines plane and to
see the incredible vastness of Lake Ontario beneath and the impressive
skyline shooting up from the ground. My most wonderful experience I had
leaving Toronto at that terminal after the opening weekend of Luminato 2011
where a tall ship was passing by slowly and majestically by the terminal and
a sky blue Lamborghini parked by the lake. It sort of encompassed the total
dimension of possibilities that this city bears. It is like a plant that is
about to break into the most beautiful flower." [see
Star Talks: Jorn Weisbrodt for more information about the
Toronto Reference Library event]
Inauguration
reportée pour les Arts de l’Islam au Louvre
Connaissance des Arts, 20 Février 2012
PARIS, FRANCE – "Le département des Arts de l’Islam voit son
inauguration, initialement prévue au début de cet été, reportée au mois de
septembre. Bien que, dans la cour Visconti, le voile de verre devrait être
achevé dans quelques semaines, l'ouverture au public du département des arts
de l'Islam a été décalée. D'après Le Figaro, l'élection présidentielle serait
à l'origine de ce report. Henri Loyrette souhaiterait, en effet, permettre au
président de la République d'assister à l'inauguration du nouveau bâtiment."
Smithsonian launches new website for teaching African American Civil Rights through American art
Recent News, artdaily.org, 19 February 2012
WASHINGTON, DC -
"Oh Freedom! Teaching African American
Civil Rights through American Art at the Smithsonian is a new Web-based
project developed jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
It offers teachers an introduction to the civil rights movement through the
unique lens of the Smithsonian’s collections. Drawing connections between art
and history, Oh Freedom! gives educators tools to help students interpret the
long struggle for civil rights. Oh Freedom! broadens the definition of the
civil rights movement beyond the 1950s and 1960s, presenting it as a longer
and more complex quest for freedom, justice and equality throughout the
course of the 20th century and into the present. "
New Museums to Shine a Spotlight on Civil Rights Era
Kim Severson, The
New York Times, 19 February 2012
ATLANTA, GA — "Drive through any state in the Deep South
and you will find a monument or a museum dedicated to civil rights. A visitor
can peer into the motel room in Memphis where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. was staying when he was shot or stand near the lunch counter in
Greensboro, N.C., where four young men began a sit-in that helped end
segregation. Other institutions are less dramatic, like the Tubman African
American Museum in Macon, Ga., where Jim Crow-era toilet fixtures are on
display alongside folk art. But now, a second generation of bigger, bolder
museums is about to emerge. Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; and Charleston, S.C.,
all have projects in the works. Coupled with the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African American History and Culture, which breaks ground in
Washington this week, they represent nearly $750 million worth of plans.
Collectively, they also signal an emerging era of scholarship and interest in
the history of both civil rights and African-Americans that is to a younger
generation what other major historical events were to their grandparents.
“We’re at that stage where the civil rights movement is the new World War
II,” said Doug Shipman, the chief executive officer for the National Center
for Civil and Human Rights, a $100 million project that is to break ground in
Atlanta this summer and open in 2014."
Fast track for slavery museum planned
Katherine Calos, Richmond Times Dispatch, 17 February 2012
RICHMOND, VA - "A slavery museum could be operational in two or
three years in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom if supporters get behind the
project, organizers said Saturday. Several dozen people, ranging from
residents with a personal interest to big names in Richmond history and
preservation circles, gathered at Franklin Military Academy for a meeting to
invite public participation in the slavery museum project proposed by the
Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission. After a project overview, they
broke into four groups to consider three questions: Is this a place you would
bring your family? Is anything missing? Would you support it? Joy Bailey,
a project consultant from Lord Cultural Resources, said the proposed United
States National Slavery Museum project would be a living heritage
complex" [see also Slavery Museum project underway in Richmond, Karen
Graham, Richmond History Examiner, 19 February 2012]
Back to Top
Städel Museum inaugurates underground building to house
Contemporary art collection
Recent News, artdaily.org,
23 February 2012
FRANKFURT, GERMANY - "With the opening of the extension for the
presentation of contemporary art, the Städel Museum has carried the largest
expansion of its nearly two-hundred-year history– with regard to its
architecture and its collection alike – to completion. In the autumn of 2009,
in conjunction with important additions to the museum’s holdings, work
commenced on the construction of an annex designed by the architectural firm
schneider+schumacher of Frankfurt. Situated beneath the Städel garden, the
new light-flooded halls provide some 3,000 square metres of additional
exhibition space, thus doubling the area available for the presentation of
the Städel’s holdings. Thanks to the completion of the annex, from now on
visitors will be able to experience 700 years of Occidental art under one
roof in presentations of equally high quality: the Old Masters, Modern Art
and Contemporary Art. The grand opening will be celebrated with an Open House
and major public festivities on 25 and 26 February from 10 am to 8 pm each
day."
Crazy for culture
Zhang Zixuan, China
Daily, Updated: 2012-02-23 07:58
GUANZHONG, CHINA - "A
former billionaire has blown his entire fortune on saving old relics and
houses, which he's turning into the country's largest private folk art
museum. Zhang Zixuan reports. Residents of Shaanxi province's Guanzhong
thought Wang Yongchao was crazy. The former billionaire has sold all his
seven companies and spent all his money on old daily-use items and shabby
houses. Some believe the things the 55-year-old has spent money on are not
junk but rather are cultural relics. Hence, he stands to actually make more
money. Indeed, the items are cultural relics, but the part about them turning
Wang a profit hasn't turned out to be true. Wang has instead transformed the
33,600 items and more than 1,000 rooms of 40 courtyard homes into the
country's largest private folk art museum."
Pour
ses 25 ans, l'Institut du monde arabe fait sa révolution
Le Monde, 22 Février 2012
PARIS, FRANCE – "Avec l'inauguration de son musée repensé, dont la
scénographie et le contenu ont été entièrement revus, l'Institut du monde
arabe (IMA), à Paris, qui fête ses 25 ans, fait sa révolution. Jusque-là
consacré à la présentation de l'art islamique, le musée considère désormais
l'aire géographique des vingt-deux pays arabes cofondateurs de l'IMA et son
histoire dans le temps."
Who
can protect Bosnia-Hercegovina's cultural heritage?
Rebecca Kesby, BBC World
Service, Sarajevo, 22 February 2012
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA - "Some
of the most important museums and cultural institutions in Bosnia-Hercegovina
face imminent closure due to political wrangling over which government
department should finance them. There are fears that ancient collections and
artefacts - which survived the siege of Sarajevo - could be in jeopardy. The
National Museum is one of the key institutions affected. [text omitted] The crisis in funding cultural
institutions highlights the complex nature of modern Bosnian politics. The
fact that there are 13 separate ministries of education shows how fragmented,
and vast, the political structure is. Ethnic identity has become ever more
important in politics since the end of the war, and many blame the Dayton
peace accords for making that inevitable. Setting up a national ministry of
culture has proved more controversial than establishing a defence ministry -
and the central government still doesn't have one."
New home for Children’s Museum one step closer
David Giles, Global Saskatoon,
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 5:08 PM
SASKATOON, SK - "A
new home for the Children’s Discovery Museum is one step closer to reality
after the City of Saskatoon proposed a formal memorandum of understanding to
move the museum to the Mendel building. The MOU will now allow the children’s
museum to complete a detailed business plan which would need to be submitted
to council by the end of June." [see also Children's museum may move to Mendel, CBC News,
Posted: Feb 22, 2012 7:14 PM CST, Last Updated: Feb 22, 2012 9:57 PM CST]
Don’t believe the hype: more adults and children are visiting
Britain’s museums
But it’s hard to predict
how budget cuts will impact on attendance, especially in regional centres
Maurice Davies, The Art
Newspaper, Web only, Published online: 22 February 2012
UNITED KINGDOM - "Recently
published research found that 40% of British children aged five to 12 have
never visited an art gallery. Claiming to have identified a “culture starved’
generation, the study also found, somewhat less dramatically, that 17% of
children have never visited a museum with their parents. On closer reading,
the research seems to be part of a public relations ploy to get parents to
take their children to cultural venues in Britain’s second largest city [Birmingham]."
Les
musées évoluent, sauf en France
Connaissance des Arts, 22 Février 2012
FRANCE – "Cet hiver, par le plus grand des hasards, j’ai
visité le Neues Museum de Berlin et l’Ashmolean Museum d’Oxford. Par deux
fois, l’approche muséale m’a semblé très originale, ouvrant les collections
vers le monde, recentrant les oeuvres autour de l’humain et incitant le
public à réfléchir à des préoccupations plus existentielles qu’artistiques.
Un concept que l'on ne retrouve quasiment jamais dans les collections
permanentes des musées français, même au musée du Quai Branly à Paris."
Hors-Série
: Musée Jean Cocteau
Connaissance des Arts, 22 Février 2012
MENTON, FRANCE – "Grâce à l’exceptionnelle donation de Séverin
Wunderman, le musée Jean Cocteau de Menton est la plus importante collection
du monde en rapport avec l'écrivain. Le musée présente ainsi tableaux,
dessins, objets d'art décoratif, photographies et quelque 450 oeuvres de
grands maîtres de l'art moderne de l'entourage de Jean Cocteau : Picasso,
Modigliani, De Chirico, Miro, Foujita"
Getty posts salary of its new museum director
Jori Finkel, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2012 | 10:32 am
LOS ANGELES, CA - "When Timothy Potts joins the Getty in
September as its new museum director, he also will join the narrow ranks of
American museum directors who earn more than half a million dollars annually.
According to a compensation disclosure dated Feb. 14 and published on the
Getty website, his base salary is $690,000, and this year he also will
receive a signing bonus of $150,000. [text
omitted] Traditionally the biggest compensation packages in the field
have gone to the heads of the biggest New York museums."
Build museum at Shaheed Minar by 1yr: HC
The Daily Times, 19 February 2012
DHAKA, BANGLADESH - "The High Court on Sunday gave the
government one more year to set up a museum and a library at the western side
of the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka. On August 25, 2010, the HC directed
the authorities concerned to do it by January 31 this year to protect the
dignity of the Shaheed Minar which was set up to maintain the spirit of the
1952 Language Movement and pay tributes to its heroes. While hearing a
contempt of court rule, the court directed the secretaries to the cultural
affairs and housing and public works ministries to set up the museum along
with a library by January 31, 2013."
Rinaldi: The rare nonprofit problem of extra cash raises
questions for the Clyfford Still Museum
Should the Clyfford Still Museum be free?
Ray Mark Rinaldi, The Denver Post, 19 February 2012
DENVER, CO - "When Denver's Clyfford Still Museum set up shop
last year it wove together a frugal, hopeful plan to pay the bills: With a
$10 admission charge, a little government money and a lot of generous support
from donors, it could eke out enough to cover an annual budget of $2.5
million. Then something amazing happened. The museum figured out a way to
sell four paintings from its collection of the revered abstract
expressionist's work, and the art world went crazy. The auction, last
November, netted the museum $99 million in profit. Stuffed in
interest-bearing endowment accounts, the tiny Clyfford Still Museum is likely
to earn around $3.9 million a year, even if it invests conservatively. That's
a million-plus more than its base budget and comes on top of any other income
the Still can muster. And while that answered one question about whether the
unusual museum will make its bottom line year after year (um, yeah, it will),
it raised a few about the two other parts of the original financial equation.
Does it make sense to charge $10 a ticket?"
Museums targeted as Greece’s economy sours
Nicholas Paphitis (Associated Press), 19 February 2012
ATHENS, GREECE — "Two masked gunmen stormed into a small museum
at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece on Friday,
smashing display cases with hammers and making off with dozens of antiquities
up to 3,200 years old, authorities said. It was the second major museum theft
in as many months in debt-crippled Greece, and a culture ministry unionist
said spending cuts have compromised security at hundreds of museums and
ancient sites across the country. With unemployment at 21 percent and
Greece’s economy in its fifth year of recession, crime, poverty and homeless
rates also have been increasing. Friday’s robbers targeted the museum of the
ancient Games at Olympia, a few hundred yards away from the world heritage
site’s main museum, which contains priceless statues and bronze artifacts
excavated at the holiest sanctuary of ancient Greece. Officials said 65
artifacts were stolen by the robbers, who tied up the only site guard, a
48-year-old woman." [see also Olympia theft worse than originally reported; 77 artifacts
were stolen by armed robbers, Recent News, artdaily.org, 21 February
2012; In Crisis-Wracked Greece, A Crime Wave Grips the Nation's
Museums and Cultural Sites, by Julia Halperin, BLOUIN ARTINFO, 19
February 2012; and, Important
vol dans un musée d’Olympie, le ministre grec de la Culture offre sa
démission, Le Journal des Arts, 17 Février 2012]
What the MFA owes Boston
Eric Weinberger (Perspective, The Boston Globe), boston.com,
February 19, 2012
BOSTON, MA - "Today, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts,
Malcolm Rogers, is pursuing a vigorous campaign against Boston’s push to
sharply increase “voluntary” payments from nonprofits that don’t pay property
taxes – a significant problem in a place so full of museums and universities
that more than half of the property is untaxable. The MFA’s payments in lieu
of taxes (PILOT) were only $55,000 last year, but Boston has asked for
$250,000 this year and about $1 million four years from now."
Biennial Tweaks Its Boundaries
Carol Vogel, The New York Times, 16 February 2012
NEW YORK, NY - "It has never happened before, and it will be
another six years before the New York contemporary art planets align the same
way again: Two sprawling contemporary surveys — the New Museum’s second-ever
Triennial, which opened Wednesday, and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s
76th Biennial, opening March 1 — will be on view simultaneously. Given that
different curators inevitably have different views, and that these two
institutions also have distinct missions, it’s not surprising that they have
come up with very different takes on the art of the moment. The New Museum
has cast its net internationally, while the Whitney, being dedicated to
American art, will be a bit more homegrown, although the biennial will
include artists born elsewhere who happen to live and work here. Only one
artist — the Los Angeles-based Wu Tsang, who identifies himself as
“transfeminine” and “transguy” and who mixes art and politics in
performances, filmmaking and installations — will be included in both shows.
The New Museum’s exhibition has been given a title, “The Ungovernables,”
inspired by the 1976 student uprisings in South Africa, a term that, as its
curator Eungie Joo put it, “could refer to an organized resistance,” and that
suggests a show defined by political commentary from a group of artists who
are mostly in their 20s and 30s. The curators behind this year’s biennial —
Elisabeth Sussman, a longtime Whitney curator, and Jay Sanders, a former
director of the Greene Naftali Gallery in Chelsea and an independent curator
— said they purposely stayed away from any one theme, and while politics is
obliquely addressed in some works, both see the contemporary art world today
as too multifaceted to distill."
Back to Top
OMA breaks ground in Taipei: Work begins on OMA's unusual
design for Taipei Performing Arts Center in Taiwan
World Architecture News,
23 February 2012
TAIPEI, TAIWAN - "Rem Koolhaas’ extraordinary Taipei Performing Arts
Center (TPAC) has now begun onsite following a groundbreaking ceremony on
16th February, 2012, attended by President Ma Ying-jeou, Mayor Hau Lung-pin,
and representatives from OMA and local design partner Artech Architects. The
unusual form looks to challenge public preconceptions of generic theatre
spaces, with a central cube clad in corrugated glass off which various
performance volumes project. Once completed in 2015, the centre will include
a 1,500-capacity theatre and two 800-seat theatres which can be combined into
one immense performance space with a 60m-long stage for experimental art. "
First Look: David Schwarz Plays Vegas
With the Smith Center for
the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, David Schwarz brings an earnest take on a
historical style to the capital of pastiche.
Fred A. Bernstein, Architectural
Record, 22 February 2012
LAS VEGAS, NV - "These
days, Las Vegas is best known for its themed casinos (Luxor, Paris, New York,
New York) and their intentionally cartoonish buildings. Architects tend to be
appalled. In that context, it’s easy to dismiss the Smith Center for the
Performing Arts as another ersatz vision for Las Vegas. Unlike the sleekly
modern concert halls of cities where everything is up to date, like Kansas
City, it is an art deco confection—a throwback to the 1930s (think Rockefeller
Center and Los Angeles’ Union Station). That means some critics will question
its architectural bona fides. Just for the record, this is not a
postmodernist building. Its architect, David Schwarz, a Yale alumnus (and
sometimes teacher) is well aware of the connections between Las Vegas, the
Venturis, and postmodernism. But his architecture is not about irony, via the
application of mis-scaled period details; it is entirely in earnest. And if
that guarantees critical disdain, Schwarz (whose firm, David M. Schwarz
Architects, has designed numerous “retro” buildings) is ready."
Île
Seguin : Jean Nouvel doit remanier son projet architectural
Le Journal des Arts, 20 Février 2012
BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT,
FRANCE – "Le projet de réhabilitation de l’île Seguin, confié
à l’architecte Jean Nouvel, prévoyait de construire 310 000 m² de surface
habitable dont cinq tours de 150 mètres de hauteur. À la suite de la révision
du plan local d’urbanisme (PLU), le maire de Boulogne-Billancourt,
Pierre-Christophe Baguet, invite Jean Nouvel à revoir cet aménagement."
:mlzd: rapperswil-jona municipal museum extension
designboom, 21 February 2012
RAPPERSWIL-JONA,
SWITZERLAND - "Swiss architecture
practice :mlzd has shared with us images of the 'rapperswil-jona municipal
museum extension', a project that aims to provide a better flowing
circulation for the pre-existing buildings of
the cultural facility in
rapperswil-jona, switzerland. in addition to establishing a more intuitive
layout, the design seeks to lend a new exterior identity to the museum with a
bronze perforated facade that folds between two historic structures."
Museum Santiago Ydáñez Proposal / Matteo Cainer Architects
Alison Furuto, ArchDaily,
21 Feb 2012
PUENTE DE GENAVE, SPAIN - "Matteo Cainer Architects shared with us their proposal for the Museum
Santiago Ydáñez in the town of Puente de Génave, Spain which expresses the
relationship between the work of the artists, the site and the building
program. Through an engaging, energetic and permeable design, they conceive a
musical rhythm where the new museum becomes a reactive and interactive part
of its landscaped setting through the intersection of the integrated and
sculpted grids. More images and architects’ description after the break."
From America to Poland: Maciej Jakub Zawadzki presents his
Miami Pier Museum of Latin American Immigrants and Warsaw Hybrid Centre
World Architecture News, 20 February 2012
MIAMI, FL - "Miami Pier Museum of Latin American Immigrants: The
building aspires to become a horizontal monument to all the immigrants who
arrived on these shores in the past and a symbol emphasising the dynamic
multicultural image of this city nowadays. It is situated directly on the
coastline of the South Beach in Miami FL, USA on the axis of one of the main
streets in the city."
Back to Top
ACE and BBC name companies to serve up online theatre content
Alistair Smith, , The Stage, Published Wednesday 22 February
2012 at 10:57 by
UNITED KINGDOM - "Bristol Old Vic, Shakespeare’s Globe and
Sadler’s Wells will be among the first companies to create theatre content
for a new online arts channel being launched by Arts Council England and the
BBC. The first commissions for the service, called The Space, were announced
this week. The channel will launch on May 1 and will be available via PCs,
smartphones, tablets and internet-connected televisions. ACE is offering a
total of £3.5 million in funding to arts companies wishing to create work for
The Space and will give grants of between £15,000 and £185,000 to the 53
successful applicants."
AP to digitize vast video archive with PFT’s CLEAR
Nearly 4 million new assets
to be created for The Associated Press in just 18 months
News release, Prime
Focus Technologies, February 2012
LONDON, UK - "The Associated Press is working with Prime Focus
Technologies (PFT) to digitize its unique video archive, making it available
to a whole new audience across digital platforms. AP’s film and tape archive
contains around 70,000 hours’ worth of footage, including more than 1.3
million global news and entertainment stories, in 16mm film and videotape,
dating back to the beginning of the 20th Century. The project is part of AP’s
multimillion-dollar upgrade to its video business which will see AP switch
its entire newsgathering, production and distribution systems to HD to
continue to meet the technical, editorial and business needs of its customers
in the digital age. AP Director of International Archives Alwyn Lindsey said:
"A legacy of being on the frontline of breaking news
for more than 160 years is a fantastic archive. Ours is one of the finest visual
documents of the events and people that have shaped the modern era. Today’s
market is driven by giving customers breadth of content, ease of access, and
value for money. While we have already digitized around 10% of our archive,
it has been a top priority to get all of our most saleable archive footage
online and make it available to our customers, wherever in the world they may
be."
"
In digital age, why have an art gallery?
Liz Wylie, Kelowna
Capital News, Wednesday, February 22, 2012
WORLD - "In this
age of instantly available information of all kinds, there have been huge
strides made in the proliferation of images of works of art on the Internet.
Most recently among these is Google’s high-profile Art Project, on which we
can see high-resolution images of masterpieces from some of the world’s great
art museums—the Hermitage, Versailles, London’s National Gallery, the Met in
New York, the Uffizi in Florence—with 360-degree tours of the rooms in which
the masterworks are installed. These sorts of experiences bring a whole new
level of wonder to armchair travel. In fact, some might posit, why bother
going to see original works of art anymore when the reproductions are so
terrific? Is the notion of manoeuvring one’s physical body into a building
that is equipped with special ventilation and security to look at works of
art hopelessly old-fashioned? Could we argue that those who say there is no
replacing the real thing are just being precious and nostalgic about the
original?"
Scrutinizing the Sexy New Art-Tech Industry: It's Not a
Bubble, It's Barely a Blip
Shane Ferro, BLOUIN ARTINFO, 22 February 2012
WORLD - "The Internet is a great place: It has revolutionized
the way that we communicate, shop, and consume information. But certain
things have a certain je ne sais quoi to them that transitions awkwardly to
the Web, and thus far, art is one of them. While there are seemingly
innumerable Web sites popping up and claiming to cater to the art world —
which we as the art media, at least, embrace immediately because we like things
that are young, cool, and aesthetically pleasing (as most of these sites are)
— few of these new ventures have actually established a real business. What,
if anything, will come of art's current love affair with e-commerce remains
to be seen. Montage Finance, a
New York City-based art finance outfit, recently came out with a report detailing the Web-art intersection, "The Art
Market's Presence Online: A Curated Survey," which looks at the
strengths and weaknesses of the most prominent art commerce sites. To get a
sense of the prospects of the new breed of art
businesses, ARTINFO sat down with Montage's president, James
Hedges, who told us that he became curious about art on the Internet after
being recruited to be the CEO of two different Web-based art companies."
Ryerson prof helps architecture come alive with new app
Niamh Scallan, The Toronto Star, 19 February 2012
TORONTO, ON - "On a sunny day, light streams into the Allen
Lambert Galleria at Toronto’s Brookfield Place, drenching the
hustle-and-bustle of the financial district below. Take a moment inside the
atrium to glance upward and you’ll see an arched, treelike canopy of
criss-crossing steel and glass. Some may know the atrium, one of Toronto’s
seminal architectural masterpieces, was designed by Spanish architect
Santiago Calatrava. For everyone else, a pocket-size interactive guide
awaits. The Ryerson Architecture Mobile app, free for most smartphones, was
recently released by Ryerson University to help students and the general
public better understand and engage with Toronto’s architecture, past and
present. It’s the brainchild of Vincent Hui, a Ryerson architectural science
professor who said he was inspired to create the app in late 2010 after he
moved to the city from the University of Waterloo."
The history of recording: The earliest recorded sounds
R.L.G., The
Economist.com, Feb 14th 2012, 22:20
NEW YORK, NY - "IT MUST have
been excruciating for the National Museum of American History's archivists to
have the earliest known recordings of the human voice but not to be able to
listen to them. The records, made in the Volta Lab of Alexander Graham Bell
in the early 1880s, were too fragile to play. But the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory figured out how to scan them optically and retrieve the
sound, as described on the museum's website here. Six recordings have been released on YouTube."
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Le
Grand Paris sera culturel ou ne sera pas
Le Monde, 23 Février 2012
PARIS, FRANCE – "Bien sûr, il y a les transports et les
infrastructures. Certes, les structures administratives, économiques et
universitaires ont leur importance. Mais Daniel Janicot en est convaincu : le
Grand Paris sera culturel ou ne sera pas. Chargé, en janvier 2011, par
Nicolas Sarkozy d'une réflexion sur la dimension européenne du projet lancé
par l'Elysée, le conseiller d'Etat vient de rendre public son rapport (à lire
sur Ladocumentationfrancaise.fr). Au terme de 300 auditions et de nombreuses
visites sur le terrain, il met en avant les atouts de la métropole capitale
et avance des propositions. Avec une obsession : "Il ne faut pas
s'endormir." "
Enquête
sur deux pilleurs de sites archéologiques sous-marins au large de
Saint-Raphaël
Le Journal des Arts, 23 Février 2012
SAINT-RAPHAËL, VAR, FRANCE
– "À l’origine, une simple enquête de routine sur un
accident de plongée. Les investigations ont conduit la gendarmerie du Var à
une chasse au trésor mettant en cause des plongeurs amateurs qui ont pillé
plusieurs sites archéologiques antiques en Méditerranée."
Christo’s Colorado Project Delayed at Least Till 2015
Kirk Johnson, The New
York Times, 22 February 2012
DENVER, CO — "The idea of a fabric-draped Arkansas River in
southern Colorado, anticipated by many as art and dreaded by others as
environmental degradation, has been postponed. The artist Christo, who has
been working on the project, called “Over the River,” for more than 20 years,
through a federal environmental impact study and uncounted rounds of public
hearings and local meetings, said the earliest date for the completed
installation is now August 2015, a year later than the most recent schedule." [see also L’installation "Over the River" de Christo retardée
d’un an, par Léa Lootgieter, Le Journal des Arts, 23.02.2012]
Fin
de l’affaire Odyssey : le trésor retourne en Espagne
Le Journal des Arts, 22 Février 2012
TAMPA, FL – "Depuis 2007, la société américaine Odyssey et les
autorités espagnoles se disputent un précieux trésor trouvé dans l’épave d’un
navire au sud du Portugal. Le tribunal de Tempa, en Floride, a rendu son
verdict le 17 février 2012. Odyssey a une semaine pour rendre la totalité du
butin, évalué à 380 millions d’euros, à son propriétaire : l’État espagnol."
NEA chief to visit Yolo's Art & Ag Project
Edward Ortiz, The
Sacramento Bee, Last modified: 2012-02-21T20:32:20Z, Published: Tuesday,
Feb. 21, 2012 - 12:00 am, Page 1D, Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 -
12:32 pm
YOLO COUNTY, CA -
"Bringing together artists and farmers in Yolo County is not the first
thing that comes to mind when you think of the National Endowment for the
Arts. Yet the federal agency is doing just that through its ArtPlace
initiative, teaming up with a consortium of companies and foundations to fund
art projects in communities around the nation. This effort will bring NEA
chief Rocco Landesman to Woodland today for a visit to Yolo County's "Art
& Ag Project." The project, overseen by YoloArts, the county's
nonprofit arts advocacy organization, has artists interacting with farmers at
their farms and creating artwork. ArtPlace has given YoloArts $63,000 this
year, as part of the first year of the project in which $11.5 million was
doled out to 34 locally initiated projects. "This is going to be very
community-oriented ...," Landesman said. "The whole notion here is
that it is place-based grantmaking, and the Yolo grant is kind of a poster
child for what we are doing." "
Library gets $5 million grant, will be renamed Mandel Public
Library of West Palm Beach
Andrew Abramson
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - "The West Palm Beach library foundation is receiving a $5 million
grant from The Mandel Foundation, a Cleveland-based foundation whose primary
priority funding areas include leadership, management of nonprofits, higher
education, Jewish education and continuity, and urban neighborhood renewal.
The library will be renamed the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach
pending city commission approval, which could come at tonight’s commission
meeting."
Une
des quatre versions du "Cri" de Munch mise aux enchères à New York
Le Monde, 21 Février 2012
NEW YORK, NY – "Une version du célèbre tableau Le Cri, du peintre
norvégien Edvard Munch, sera mise aux enchères à New York le 2 mai par la
maison Sotheby's et pourrait dépasser les 80 millions de dollars, a indiqué
mardi 21 février la maison d'enchères. Munch réalisa quatre versions de ce
tableau expressionniste, montrant un homme criant, les mains sur les
oreilles, sur fond de ciel ensanglanté à Oslo, vu depuis la colline
d'Ekeberg."
Création
du fonds de dotation Hélène et Édouard Leclerc pour la culture
Le Journal des Arts, 21 Février 2012
LANDERNEAU (FINISTÈRE),
FRANCE – "Désireuse de s’engager pour une plus forte diffusion
de la culture et des arts », la famille Leclerc vient de créer un fonds de
dotation à son nom. Il a pour but d’organiser des expositions, des rencontres
avec des artistes et des programmes de médiation. L’exposition inaugurale aura
lieu aux Capucins de Landerneau et sera consacrée à Gérard Fromanger."
Ai
Weiwei, le dissident de l’art en huit œuvres choc
Le Figaro, 17 Février 2012
PARIS, FRANCE – "Arrêté le 3 avril 2011 à l’aéroport de Pékin et mis
au secret pendant plus de deux mois, l’artiste chinois Ai Weiwei est devenu
l’emblème de la liberté d’expression. Alors que son studio de Pékin reste
sous haute surveillance, la Toile fourmille de pétitions et de posts de
soutien. À partir du 21 février et jusqu’au 29 avril, le Jeu de paume
présente sa première exposition personnelle en France."
Leonora
Hamill et Eric Pillot, lauréats 2012 du Prix HSBC pour la Photographie
Connaissance des Arts, 16 Février 2012
FRANCE – "La Franco-britannique Leonora Hamill et le Français
Eric Pillot sont les deux lauréats du Prix HSBC pour la Photographie, qui
s’est donné pour mission d’aider et de promouvoir de jeunes photographes."
IMPROVING ARTS LEARNING THROUGH STANDARDS & ASSESSMENT:
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE
National Endowment for the Arts, February 14 2012
"On February 14, 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts
hosted a day-long series of panels and presentations to examine the latest
trends, current practices, and future directions for arts learning standards
and assessment methods. In addition to moderated panels of experts, the
roundtable featurded a presentation of the NEA's latest research report,
Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts: State of the Field
and Recommendations. The entire event was webcast live." [Video files of each session are available on the
website]
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Need a Little Guidance?
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf, Charity Village, 19 February 2012
CANADA - "The Canada Revenue Agency's new guidance on
fundraising is scheduled to be released in March. Preliminary details were
revealed in an hour-long webinar on February 10, hosted by charity lawyer
Mark Blumberg and co-sponsored by both the CRA's Charities Directorate and
Capacity Builders, a division of the Ontario Community Support Association.
CRA's new guidelines have been streamlined and updated to better reflect the
changing environment of the charitable sector and to tighten accountability
controls over nonprofit fundraising activities. This new guidance replaces
the last version, which was published in June 2009. Blumberg cautioned that
the new guidance was still subject to change until the final draft is
released next month. Still, it's safe to assume most of the updates will
remain as presented in this story. The agency's guidance is as detailed as
ever, and charities should pore over it with relevant staff members. Below
are some of the highlight amendments to the guidance.
What's your ratio?
According to Blumberg, one of the major changes to the guidance is
that the CRA will now consider a wider range of indicators when evaluating a
charity's fundraising activities. Instead of simply looking at the ratio of
resources devoted to fundraising versus resources used for programming, the
agency will now also consider whether the fundraising is being done without
"an identifiable use or need for the proceeds."
PLU
de Versailles : l’État pointé du doigt
Le Journal des Arts, 17 Février 2012
VERSAILLES, FRANCE – "Le plan local d’urbanisme du domaine national de
Versailles n’a pas fini d’être chahuté. La municipalité de Versailles propose
à l’État de lui racheter les terrains autrefois affectés au ministère de la
Défense, au prix auquel ils lui ont été cédés en décembre dernier."
Un
appel international pour sauver les fresques de Giotto menacées par un
programme immobilier
Le Journal des Arts, 17 Février 2012
PADOUE, ITALIE – "Des historiens italiens s’opposent au projet
immobilier prévu à proximité de l’église de l’Arena qui abrite un des cycles
de fresques les plus importants de Giotto. Si les autorités locales estiment
qu’il n’y a aucun risque pour l’édifice du XIVe siècle, le monde culturel
proteste et tente de sensibiliser la population."
Media Release: New tool provides easy access to charitable
information
Imagine Canada, February 15 2012
TORONTO, ON - "Canadians now have an easy way to get detailed
information about the 85,000 registered charities in the country. CharityFocus.ca, a new
bilingual web site developed by Imagine Canada, provides detailed financial
information based on an organization’s filings to the Canada Revenue Agency
(CRA). But more importantly, charities now have the opportunity to start
supplementing this information with details about their programs and
accomplishments. Together, the information found in CharityFocus provides a
balanced picture of Canada’s charities – their work, their funding and their
people."
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