— Broad Museum Sues Its Engineer: Seele Inc., the German-based engineering company responsible for exterior features of the Broad Collection contemporary art museum in downtown LA, has fallen 15 months behind schedule, resulting in a lawsuit brought forth by the museum. The suit seeks $19.8 million in damages from Seele and its insurers for not meeting the quality of work it promised, and for extra costs from the delays. Broad spokeswoman Karen Denne says the museum is now slated to open in 2015. [LAT]
— Replica Van Gogh Ear Grown for Art: The Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe is currently displaying a replica of Vincent van Gogh’s ear grown from genetic tissue from Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great-grandson of the artist’s brother. The ear is a copy of the appendage removed by Van Gogh during a psychotic episode in 1888. Artist Diemut Strebe plans to display the piece in New York next year. [Guardian]
— Ai Weiwei Pens Op-Ed for Tiananmen Anniversary: Artist and political dissident Ai Weiwei penned an op-ed for Bloomberg to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The artist discussed his recent censorship from shows in Shanghai and Beijing, saying, “Censorship has in effect neutered society, transforming it into a damaged, irrational and purposeless creature.” Weiwei also writes, “China has chosen to forget, or to allow forgetting — an attitude the West will find hard to understand. This provides China a way to liberate itself from heavy self-criticism, as well as a heavier moral burden. More important, it frees Chinese from responsibility for their actions and acquiescence.” [Bloomberg]
— Gugg Helsinki Announces Jury: The Guggenheim Foundation is seeking the design for its Helsinki Museum through an open competition, which will be judged by a jury of 11 architectural experts headed by Mark Wigley, dean of Columbia University’s graduate school of architecture. [NYT]
— Swiss Museum to Vet Gurlitt Trove: The Kunstmuseum Bern, the designated heir to the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt, plans to vet the collection before accepting it. [AP]
— Crocker Stored Art For Japanese in US: Officials at the Crocker Museum recently discovered that the institution stored artworks for Japanese families interned in the US during World War II, and they plan to reunite descendants with the recovered items. [CBS Sacramento]
— Laurent Le Bon, director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, has been chosen as the new head of the Musée Picasso in Paris. [TAN]
— Recovered tear gas canisters left on the streets from violent protests in Venezuela are to be used in an art initiative that encourages locals to make the leftover pieces into sculpture. [Ahram Online]
— Jill Deupi was chosen as the new director of the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum. [Miami Herald]
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