– Ai Weiwei Barred From Court as Lawyer Disappears: The Chinese artist and activist has been warned by police — who are stationed outside his studio — not to attend a court hearing about his lawsuit against the tax agency that fined his company $2.36 million. "I've never seen so many police cars outside my studio," he said. "At one point last night a few dozen were there, which was unprecedented." (Opting to stay away from court, Ai tweeted a picture of himself in a police uniform.) Meanwhile, Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer for Ai, has not been seen since he was told to meet with security officers on Tuesday night. [Guardian, CNN]
– Homeland Security Seizes T-Rex From Heritage Auctions: A federal judge has authorized the Department of Homeland Security to seize a 24-foot-long Tyrannosaurus skeleton from an art storage company in Queens. (We'd pay money to see how, exactly, one seizes a 24-foot-long dino skeleton.) Heritage Auctions sold the T-Rex had to a collector for more than $1 million last month; authorities suspect it's been illegally exported from Mongolia. [Post and Courier]
– SFMOMA Plans Three-Year Hiatus: The San Francisco museum will go dark for three years after it breaks ground in June 2013 on its $300-million, Snøhetta-designed expansion. Meanwhile, it's planning a series of collaborations with local institutions to keep its collection on view in its absence, including an exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum of some 60 artworks that deal with spirituality. [SFGate]
– Russians Keep "Communism" Out of Rodchenko Retrospective: A new 316-work exhibition devoted to the Constructivist photographer Alexander Rodchenko at the National Museum in Krakow came at a great cost to the Polish institution, chiefly due to Russian museums' innumerable demands. In addition to disproportionately high loan fees — which the National Museum could only pay off after the show had toured the rest of Europe — the Russian museums provided their own wall and catalogue text (which could not be edited), supervised the installation, and insisted that the word "Communism" not appear anywhere. [WSJ]
– Fear of Lawsuits Silences Art Experts: Art experts are increasingly keeping their mouths shut on matters of authenticity for fear of having to defend themselves in court against disgruntled collectors. Not long after the Andy Warhol Foundation dissolved its authentication committee, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Noguchi Museum have followed. "Art scholarship is fighting a losing battle against commerce," said art lawyer Peter Stern. [NYT]
– FBI Returns Stolen Art to Polish Museum: The FBI is returning more than 120 stolen artifacts worth an estimated $5 million to Chicago's Polish Museum of America. The items, which include rare prints and Nazi propaganda from WWII, were stolen from the museum in the 1970s or 1980s and found last year at a home on Chicago's North Side. [AP]
– Otterness Sculptures Removed from Hilton: A site-specific installation by Tom Otterness featuring playful figures at the entrance to the Hilton Times Square in New York has been permanently removed — but not in protest of the artist's dog-shooting past. As part of a recent renovation, they were cleared to make way for illuminated LED panels that change colors. The sculptures are now in storage. [NYT]
– Chris Ofili Paints Backdrop for Titian Ballet: The Turner Prize winner is one of three artists designing a new Royal Ballet production inspired by three Titian paintings and organized by National Gallery curator Minna Moore Ede. "Metamorphosis: Titian 2012" will premiere on July 14 as part of London's Cultural Olympiad and the July 16 performance will be shown live on a large screen in Trafalgar Square. [Guardian]
– Mathias Poledna to Rep Austria in Venice: The Vienna-born artist, who has lived and worked in L.A. since 2000, will represent his mother country at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Poledna is known for his evocative film installations of subjects ranging from the rainforest to Pop music. [Press Release]
– Small Exeter Museum Deemed U.K.'s Best: The recent £24 million ($37.7 million) redevelopment of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, a regional institution opened in 1868, has paid off, literally: The museum has just received the £100,000 ($157,000) Art Fund prize for the U.K.'s best museum of the year. [Guardian]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Heritage Auctions's David Herskowitz explains what makes T-Rex worth so much at auction
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