Elyn Zimmerman's rock-and-water installation Marabar was erected in 1984 in the courtyard of the National Geographic Society — which now has other plans for that space. Then American University came to the rescue. - The New York Times
Sorted into categories such as "Missing masterpieces", "Ancient art", "Prehistoric peoples", African-American and indigenous North American history, and "Royal treasures", here are nearly a hundred pieces of (mostly) good news. - Smithsonian Magazine
"Are those towers the most powerful act of recycling that California has ever seen? Maybe." Christopher Reynolds recounts the history of their building, including the 100,000-pounds-of-pressure stress test they had to pass so as not to be demolished. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The self-consciousness isn’t necessary; Disney transcended the high-low debate a long time ago. A better question is whether a major art institution dedicating programming to a multibillion dollar corporate behemoth best serves a viewing public. - The New York Times
"The Belgian government plans to set up an expert commission with the Democratic Republic of Congo that will determine the fate of thousands of museum artefacts acquired by Belgium during the colonial era, with a view to making the first restitutions in 2022." - The Art Newspaper
“I feel like I was hired with one clear mandate from the board which, they like to say, is to put the ‘national’ back in the National Gallery and think about how we serve the American people, because our funding in large part comes from the American taxpayers.” - The Guardian
The 26-foot-tall artwork, known as the “Pillar of Shame,” had stood at the University of Hong Kong for nearly a quarter-century and honored the hundreds, if not thousands, of students and others killed on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese military crushed pro-democracy protests. - Washington Post
Chicago has a forest of imposing skyscrapers, and nothing else like this squat concoction of glass and steel that looks from the outside like a spaceship docked in the heart of the Loop, and reveals, on the inside, the city’s most vertiginous and spectacular atrium. - Chicago Reader
RX France is challenging the validity of the process, claiming that it has received two written commitments to the fairs from RMN-Grand Palais, the public body that owns the beaux-arts building, in 2019 and in 2021. - Artnet
Two factories in France produce much of the world's synthetic ultramarine pigment; one stopped making it, and the other couldn't meet the extra demand and froze exports, causing difficulties for all sorts of businesses worldwide. And there are similar issues with other colors. - Yahoo! (The Washington Post)
Curators enjoyed a 4% increase in trustworthiness across gender and political affiliation in 2021. Notably, however, advanced degree holders were much more likely to trust museum curators to tell the truth, exposing educational gaps in the way the profession is perceived. - Hyperallergic
If you want to see an acrobatic display of ducking and weaving in a gallery by people trying desperately not to set off any alarms, just read the labels in the newly opened The African Origins of Civilization at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. - Hyperallergic
"Pilgrims traveling to Machu Picchu in the 15th century were greeted by Chachabamba, a ceremonial water complex that was designed to demonstrate the power of the Inca peoples. Now researchers have used 3D imaging technology to map this unique feature of the citadel." - Artnet
The Baltimore Museum of Art has roughly 1,200 works by the artist, and it's just opened the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, which will have a library, resident research fellows, and the museum's first exhibition room dedicated to Matisse's art. - Smithsonian Magazine
