“The UK government has confirmed that art is likely to be among the items seized as part of a drive to recover billions of dollars worth of assets siphoned off by the Qaddafi family during four decades in power.” The late dictator’s son Saif al-Islam “was known to be a keen art collector and reportedly active on the Islamic art circuit.”
Tag: 05.16.13
On The Art Market As An Arbiter Of Quality
Christopher Knight: “So the art market is a judge of quality, just like Mom and cousin Fred are, but hardly the best judge. There’s a simpler explanation as to why collectors and dealers aren’t the ones deciding who, finally, are the important artists. (Nor, for that matter, do curators, critics or the general public.) It’s because artists do.”
Ai Weiwei Videotapes A Riot On Mother’s Day
The artist and his brother were walking to meet their mother at a restaurant when “they saw a commotion ahead of them. On the ground were overturned tables. There were people shouting and throwing chairs and waving sticks, Mr. Ai said. He got out his cell phone and began recording the scene.”
Would You Want To Be Friends With Humbert Humbert? On Literary Characters’ Likeability
“[Inspired by Claire Messud’s recent outburst,] we surveyed a group of novelists – Donald Antrim, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Franzen, Rivka Galchen, and Tessa Hadley – asking them how often the question of likeability has been posed about their characters … and why this persists as a criteria for so many readers.”
Australia Council Gets New Chief
“Tony Grybowski is well known to the industry from his role as executive director of the council’s Major Performing Arts Board since 2007. Before that he was an executive with several classical music organisations and with Arts Victoria.”
I’m Sorry For The Dance World
“So on behalf of the dance world, permit me to apologize for the mess you’re entering into. It’s insane. But it’s *incredibly* exciting. The world you thought you were entering into is long dead, and none of the old (anti-intellectual, super-sexist, super-classist and SUPER-racist) rules of dance history need hold true for you.”
Boston Symphony Appoints New Music Director
“Andris Nelsons, 34, has been music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Britain since 2008. He made his debut with the Boston Symphony in 2011, replacing Mr. Levine.”
Thomas Messer, Longtime Guggenheim Director, Dead At 93
“During his [27-year] tenure – one of the longest of a director of any major American art museum – the Guggenheim deepened its collection, expanded its exhibitions program, vastly improved its publications and took its first step toward becoming a global institution.”