– Tate Apologizes for Kraftwerk Kraziness: In response to the incredible — but, in light of a similar fiasco earlier this year at MoMA, entirely predictable — online rush for tickets to German electronic music group Kraftwerk's eight-show concert series in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, which crashed the museum's website, the institution has issued an apology to frustrated fans who weren't able to secure tickets to the now-sold out shows. "Some customers came to Tate Modern and we made the late decision to sell tickets to them to avoid their disappointment," the statement explains. "We are sorry that this was not communicated as an official route to buy tickets and subsequently led to more frustration from other customers trying to buy tickets online and by telephone." [Tate]
– Greenberg Van Doren Closes: The 13-year-old space at 730 Fifth Avenue, which specializes in postwar and contemporary art, is shutting its doors next Friday. Co-owner Ronald K. Greenberg will go on to deal privately from St. Louis, while his partner, John Van Doren, is teaming up with newly-minted Art Dealers Association of America president Dorsey Waxter to form a new gallery. Van Doren Waxter will open February 20 on the Upper East Side with an exhibition of canvases by John McLaughlin. [NYT]
– QE2 Receives Royal Portfolio for Jubilee: London's Royal Academy has gifted 97 works by 93 artist members to Queen Elizabeth II to mark the Diamond Jubilee, including works by David Hockney — who famously turned down her commission for an official royal portrait — Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin, and more, all of which will go on view in an exhibition at Buckingham Palace's Queen's Gallery next year. "It's a really transformative gift, something entirely new to us, and it allows us to do something we haven't done before," said Martin Clayton, who will curate the exhibition. "The Queen has seen photographs of all of the works and she is delighted." [Telegraph]
– Rap Mogul Dame Dash Expands Gallery Empire: Fresh from opening his Poppington Art Gallery on the Lower East Side's Orchard Street, hip hop mogul and former Jay-Z business partner Damon Dash is planning to open outposts of his art space DD172 in South Carolina and Hong Kong. "South Carolina is the New York of the South," Dash said. "I like the town and there is a strong undiscovered artistic community from music to art." [AllHipHop]
– Berlin's Kennedy Museum Gets a Makeover: The Kennedys is not only the title of a television miniseries — it is also, apparently, the name of a private German museum tracing the life and influence of John F. Kennedy and his family. That museum reopened this month after an extensive five-month renovation and expansion. Exhibits chronicle the former president's 1962 visit to the divided city of Berlin as well as the style of first lady Jackie. [WSJ]
– Embattled Vancouver Art Gallery Asks Artists for Help: In response to ongoing criticisms of its administrative operations and curatorial vision — which resulted in a petition signed by over 200 of Canada's leading curators, museum workers, and artists including Jeff Wall — the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) has created an artist advisory group who will have input in the development and planning of the institution's new building. "It is critical to us that the voices of those who work in the visual arts are heard through this process," VAG director Kathleen Bartels said. "This new advisory group will ensure the needs of those who will most benefit from a new Gallery will be well represented." [Globe and Mail]
– "Girl With a Pearl Earring" Gets a Room of Her Own: Vermeer's masterpiece "Girl With a Pearl Earring" will be among 15 paintings shown at the Frick Collection in New York for "Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting From the Mauritshuis," which opens next fall. The exhibition features highlights from that museum, which is closed for two years for renovations. To allow the other paintings to get proper due, chief curator Colin Bailey will hang Vermeer's most famous painting in its own gallery. [NYT]
– Paris's Record-Breaking Hopper Retro: As it nears the halfway mark of its 100-day run with a to-date attendance of 365,000, the Grand Palais's current survey of American painter Edward Hopper is on track to become France's second-best attended exhibition ever by the time it closes on January 28, 2013, falling just short of a Claude Monet retrospective that drew 910,000 visitors last year. "Only one or two of his paintings are well known, like 'Nighthawks' or 'House by the Railroad,'" said Didier Ottinger, the exhibition's curator. "And yet we have a blockbuster show on our hands." [WSJ]
– India's Biennial Kicks Off, Semi-Ready: "India, with its penchant for last-minute event preparation, seems to have created a new type of art fair, the art-in-progress show," writes Minu Ittyipe of the country's first contemporary art biennial, which kicked off on December 12. Many artists were still hammering, soldering, and whirring as the doors opened, though the centerpiece of the main exhibition, a site-specific work by Ernesto Neto, was in place. "One rarely gets to see artists at work at other biennales," said the Beirut-based critic Kaelen Wilson-Goldie. [NYT]
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