— Tate Gets Emin Bed for 10 Years: Cologne-based industrialist Count Christian Duerckheim, who purchased Tracey Emin’s “My Bed” for £2.5 million earlier this month, has agreed to give the Tate a 10-year loan of the work. “I always admired the honesty of Tracey, but I bought ‘My Bed’ because it is a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die,” Duerckheim said. [TAN]
— 9/11 Museum Cross Will Stay: A three-judge panel has dismissed the lawsuit brought by a group of atheists against the 9/11 Museum for displaying a cross-shaped beam artifact. The group was hoping that the museum might add a plaque to the display that read something along the lines of, “atheists died, too.” “Such an observer would not understand the effect of displaying an artifact with such an inclusive past in a Museum devoted to the history of the September 11 attacks to be the divisive one of promoting religion over nonreligion,” federal Judge Reena Raggi wrote in the court’s decision. “Nor would he think the primary effect of displaying The Cross at Ground Zero to be conveying a message to atheists that they are somehow disfavored ‘outsiders,’ while religious believers are favored ‘insiders,’ in the political community.” [WP]
— Art Museum Attendance Soars Worldwide: As attendance at the world’s art museums increases, institution officials are trying to find ways to accommodate the crowds while protecting the art. The New York Times cites a growing middle class in Asia and Eastern Europe as one of the main factors for increased attendance at museums like the Louvre (which had 9.3 million visitors in 2013) and the British Museum (which saw 6.3 million). Some tactics museums have used to control the flow of people include timed tickets and extended hours, but sites like the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel are still resorting to overhauling air conditioning systems to preserve Michelangelo’s masterful frescoes from the 22,000 people visiting each day. [NYT]
— Goldsmiths Picks Art Gallery Designer: The London-based architecture firm Assemble has been chosen to design Goldsmiths College new art gallery. [ArchDaily]
— St. Louis Art Museum to Keep Egyptian Mask: Even though there is evidence to suggest that the ancient Egyptian mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer was stolen, the US Department of Justice is forfeiting its fight to reclaim the artwork from the St. Louis Art Museum, where it is currently housed. [STL Today]
— Palestinian Museum Plans Move Forward: Jack Persekian, director of the new Palestinian Museum in the West Bank, has said that plans for the institution are moving forward despite escalating conflict in the region. [TAN]
— A donation of work from Picasso’s daughter to Paris’s Picasso Museum shows confidence in the institution’s new president, Laurent Le Bon. [TAN]
— London’s famous Gherkin skyscraper is up for sale for about £650 million. [The Guardian]
— New York’s uber hip shared workspace Neuehouse is opening an LA branch in the city’s historic CBS radio building on Sunset Boulevard. [NYT]
ALSO ON ARTINFO
Asian Art Museum Takes a Risk, Redefines Mission With “Gorgeous”
Review: Manfred Pernice at Regen Projects
Katie Paterson to Launch Artwork Into Orbit
Hilton Als and Daniel Libeskind Among Speakers in the Watermill Center’s Summer Lectures
Check our blog IN THE AIR for breaking news throughout the day.
