Vancouver

New Culture minister Stephanie Cadieux asserts arts council's independence

“Newly minted Minister for Community, Sport and Cultural Development Stephanie Cadieux has asserted her support for the B.C. Arts Council’s independence.  “I respect that they [the B.C. Arts Council] have a role that’s arm’s-length from the government,” Cadieux said by phone. “Government shouldn’t be in the business of determining artists’ merit.” Georgia Straight, November 4, 2010

Game Show and Harun Farocki: Deep Play get to the heart of games

“One of the assertions of Game Show, an intriguing group exhibition at the Surrey Art Gallery, is that play and games are “forms of mediated display and communication.” Georgia Straight, November 4, 2010

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival pulls from afar

“Shows from as far away as Zurich, Antwerp, and Brisbane highlight the lineup for the next PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.”  Georgia Straight, November 4, 2010

Toronto

Toronto artist Kristan Horton wins Grange Prize for photography

“Toronto artist Kristan Horton is the winner of the 2010 Grange Prize for excellence in contemporary photography.”  Globe & Mail, November 4, 2010

Battle of the brush

Toller Cranston, the “Hamilton-born artist, who won a bronze medal in 1976 and six national championships, is now in Toronto to be a guest judge on CBC's Battle of the Blades and has an art show at the Artworld of Sherway running from Nov. 7 until Dec. 31. He spoke to Melissa Leong about painting and self-loathing.”  National Post, November 4, 2010

Austin, TX

Director was drawn into brain-damaged artist’s inner world

In 2006, director Jeff Malmberg first came across Mark Hogancamp’s photographs in “ESOPUS, an art magazine that eschews editorial comment on the work it publishes. It was the first time that Hogancamp’s photography had been seen beyond his small circle of friends in Kingston, N.Y., where he had been getting by on disability cheques.” Globe & Mail, November 4, 2010

New York

Christie’s Auction Sets Records for Matisse and Gris

“With supply dwindling and collectors growing, some buyers are finding the marketplace highly competitive, even for artworks considered less than top flight.” New York Times, November 4, 2010

Stolen Dégas painting resurfaces at auction

“A painting by celebrated master Edgar Dégas has been found at a New York auction nearly 40 years after being stolen from a French museum, France's culture ministry said Wednesday.” Ottawa Citizen, November 4, 2010

Documenting Accumulation and Its Discontents

“Corinne May Botz’s photography explores the spaces of people who have unusual relationships with their environments. But she keeps her own space streamlined.”  New York Times, November 4, 2010

Bergdorf Goodman’s Window Dressers Honored With Book

“David Hoey and Linda Fargo, the brains behind Bergdorf’s windows, are being honored in a coffee table book from Assouline.”  New York Times, November 4, 2010

Washington, D.C.

Gates Foundation Donates $50M to Smithsonian

"The money will go principally to the Youth Access Endowment, a new entitly created by the Smithsonian. Gates is giving $30million of the gift to 'reach underserved students" in the United States'." Washington Post, November 3, 2010

London

Getty Trust Can't Take Its New Turner Home From Britain (Yet)

"The J. Paul Getty Trust is being told once more that its money - this time $44.9million - may be no good in Great Britain, where authorities have blocked the sale of a prized landscape painting of Rome by J.M.W. Turner that the Getty appeared to have bought in a July auction." Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2010

Budget Cuts Threaten UK Public Art Programs

“It is clear that temporary art commissions have greatly enriched and freed up the field of public art in recent years; by virtue of being ephemeral, such installations exist permanently in the memory and in documentation, whilst avoiding the need for long-term care. But this is now under threat in the UK with budget cuts.” The Art Newspaper, November 4, 2010

Dundee, Scotland

V&A Museum Selects Architect for New Scottish Branch

"Japanese architects have won a competition to design the first dedicated museum for the [Victoria & Albert] outside London, a low-slung angular building on the banks of the river Tay [in Dundee]. The 'bold and ambitious' design by Kengo Kuma & Associates, [is] a two-part structure of close-fitting slabs made from a stone compound and glass." The Guardian (UK), November 3, 2010

Amsterdam

Art-speak: Dad! Let me try AGAIN to explain my art

“If you want to see an illustration, indeed an embodiment, of the problems that contemporary visual artists have in interesting the mass media, watch a few clips online of artists trying to explain their work to their parents. They are part of a documentary called How to Explain It to My Parents.” Globe & Mail, November 3, 2010

Rüdesheim, Germany

Researchers Use Technology To Recreate Lost Art

"Light projection technology developed for theatrical performances and rock concerts is being used to "virtually reintegrate" a lost sequence of a German 16th-century mural." The Art Newspaper, November 4, 2010

Barcelona

Polishing Gaudi's Unfinished Jewel

“As the Pope's visit approaches, debate intensifies over how, and whether, to continue work on La Sagrada Familia.” New York Times, November 4, 2010

Delhi

Anish Kapoor to Have His First Exhibitions in India

“The London-based Indian sculptor is, of course, famous for his large-scale pieces and installations. "While in Mumbai the exhibition will take over an entire Bollywood film studio, in Delhi they have merely had to expand an entrance to the new wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art to get the pieces in." The Guardian (UK), November 3, 2010