Category: visual

“The Minneapolis Institute of Art named an art expert with a entrepreneurial past Tuesday as its next director and president: Katherine Luber, of the San Antonio Museum of Art. … Luber, who has led the San Antonio institution for eight years, possesses not only a Ph.D. in art history but an M.B.A. and experience launching an organic spice company.” – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

What’s being done with the rubble, the windows, and the stabilization of the walls; who is, and who will be, running the restoration effort; what the next steps will be; and the general philosophy behind the work. – The Art Newspaper

The museum’s collection of archival film and photos, maps, letters, posters, and pamphlets focuses on two heroes of de Gaulle’s Free French movement: the former préfet Jean Moulin and General Philippe Leclerc. – Apollo

Having been given a small budget to construct homes for low-income families, many of whom said they would like to expand their dwellings in the future, Alejandro Aravena hit upon the idea of building half of a larger, nicer home, and leaving the other half for the residents to finish themselves, either with their own hands or with help from local “micro-contractors.” – CityLab

Perhaps it’s precisely the soft science of working with and viewing other people that makes performance a refreshing counterpoint to an art industry that is increasingly commercialized and corporatized. Regardless of athleticism or ability, in dance traditionally made for the stage there’s a satisfaction – and, perhaps, seduction – in viewing the technique-driven, trained body of a performer. – Frieze

Sometimes, if you’re a US person and have British friends, the Brits will enjoy talking about how long the US had slavery. An important discussion, no doubt – but guess what? The British aren’t exactly innocent either in the foundation of chattel slavery in the US or in a lot of other horrors of the British Empire. And artist Kara Walker isn’t messing around with her latest work in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. “‘It’s a reversal of the triangle trade, going from America via Africa back to England,’ she said, laughing. ‘Or thinking of it as a different shape — a circle, a cycle.'” – The New York Times

To be fair, the architecture was a lot more barbaric at the beginning of the zoo. Now design is more focused on attempts to break down the human/animal barrier … invisibly. But is that enough? “The architecture of zoos reflected man’s changing relationship with animals: going from a sense of exoticism and wonder, to better hygiene and animal welfare, to the idea that the architecture should disappear altogether.” – The Guardian (UK)

In this video, “the museum is using high-tech methods to carry out a forensic examination of exactly how Rembrandt painted the picture.” What’s the most 21st century thing about the research and restoration? It’s being done in full public view in a gallery, and live-streamed as well. – BBC

A “comic strip” of the time shows that “although the work of the great Italian was popular in his time, an extensive new study of the artist to be published this week has outlined evidence that he was the butt of gossipy jokes in Renaissance Milan.” – The Observer (UK)