– More Hurricane Damage to the 9/11 Museum: The still-under-construction 9/11 Memorial Museum— which houses important artifacts from the terrorist attack including the last column standing at the tower site — is flooded with at least five feet of water. The museum's main floor sits 68 feet below the memorial plaza (which sustained little damage). The memorial's planners acknowledged that the museum was constructed on a so-called 100-year flood plain, which means the land has a 1 percent chance of flooding every year. It just so happens, however, that the site has been hit by two "100 year floods" in just the past 14 months. (For a CNN report on the situation, see our VIDEO OF THE DAY, below.) [Gawker]
– The West Bank Gets a Biennial: The small town of Qulandiya is best known as the hulking Israeli checkpoint between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But this week, it is also home to the Palestinian Occupied Territory's largest biennale to date, featuring over 50 Palestinian and international artists from Australia, Italy, and Switzerland, among other countries. Organized by the architectural heritage organization Riwaq and the Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, the biennale incorporates sculptures made out of bits of the Israeli separation wall by artist Khaled Jarrar. [Al-Jazeera]
– Atlantic City Readies New Public Art Project:Hurricane Sandy miraculously spared the first phase of a planned five-year, $13-million public art project in Atlantic City called "Artlantic," scheduled to debut on Friday. The first portion of the project features a large sculpture by Kiki Smith surrounded by a seasonally changing "red garden" designed by the artist, an installation of a pirate ship by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, and a text-based work by Robert Barry. [NYT]
– Downtown Artists Weather Storm at Mark Hotel: During Superstorm Sandy and the ensuing flooding and blackout that enveloped Lower Manhattan, a powerful ad hoc art community sprang up in the Upper East Side's Mark Hotel. It became a makeshift home not only for fashion stars like Anna Wintour and Mark Jacobs, but also for artists Dan Colen, Wade Guyton, and John Currin, whose dealer Larry Gagosian persuaded them to come stay near his Madison Avenue location around the corner. "My office is very efficient," said displaced makeup artist Pat McGrath. "They saw the storm coming and moved me up here a week ago." [WSJ]
– Nazi-Looted Movie Posters Head to Auction: Some 4,300 pre-World War II movie posters that the Gestapo took from Berlin dentist Hans Sachs in 1938 will be auctioned in New York after being restituted to his son Peter Sachs. The collection, worth over $5.8 million, includes works by Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Cheret, and Ludwig Hohlwein, and will hit the auction block at Guernsey's on January 18, 2013. [Bloomberg]
– Stolen Chinese Relics Pulled From Auction: A pair of relics — two jade carvings dating from the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1735-95) — were pulled from an auction at Bonhams London after they were revealed to have been looted from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. "Bonhams is very sorry to read reports in the Chinese press that offense has been caused in China by the proposed sale of two jade carvings," said Bonhams' Asia chairman Colin Sheaf. "There was never in any way an intention to cause offense, and Bonhams regrets that this interpretation has been published." [China.org]
– Sotheby's to Sell Lauder Jewels: Cosmetics mogul Leonard Lauder will sell a collection of jewelry amassed by his wife Evelyn and mother Estée Lauder worth upwards of $13.4 million at Sotheby's New York in a pair of sales — one on December 5 and the second in February. The family's share of proceeds from the sales — which include a heart-shaped yellow 47.14-carat diamond that belonged to the Duchess of Windsor until she secretly sold it to Lauder — will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which Evelyn Lauder founded. [WSJ, Market Watch]
– Boyle and Serota Join Sculpture Sale Protest: Filmmaker (and Olympics opening ceremony mastermind) Danny Boyle and Tate director Nicholas Serota have joined a chorus of concerned arts figures protesting Tower Hamlets Council's plans to sell a large bronze public sculpture by Henry Moore that the artist sold them at a steep discount in hopes that it might enrich the lives of people living in the depressed community. Faced with staggering budget cuts, the council could get up to $31.9 million for "Draped Seated Woman," but Boyle, Serota, and other signors of an open letter say the sale "goes against the spirit of Henry Moore's original sale to London County Council at a favourable price on the understanding that it would be placed in East London." [BBC]
– Donald Judd's Pickup Truck Now Lives Upstate: The New York Times autos section brings us the delightful story of a furniture designer in Putnam Valley, New York who owns Donald Judd's 1972 Dodge pickup truck. The car received a distinctive paint job from the Minimalist painter, who covered the hood, tailgate, and bumpers in black (the former to ward off glare, the latter two just to be stylish). Evan Hughes, the designer, bought the truck from the artist's son, Flavin, for less than $5,000 over 15 years ago. "It does not go much more than 75 miles per hour," he said. [NYT]
– Resale Royalty Comment Period Extended: Calling all artists and others concerned about resale royalties: The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for responses to its September 19 inquiry seeking the public's opinion on a federal resale royalty right. Due to the "complexity of the issues raised," comments are now due December 5 rather than November 5. If you've got a strong opinion on the subject, you can submit your thoughts electronically here. [Federal Register via Art Law Blog]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Anderson Cooper reports on the flooding of the 9/11 Museum
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