China: Under a cultural cooperation deal with China and Italy, the Chinese government will oversee a 600 sq m exhibition space in the Palazzo di Venezia in Rome for the next five years. The first show, The Two Empires: The Eagle and the Dragon, opened in November. In return, Italy will take over a wing of the National Museum of China, in Beijing, from June for five years.
Hungary: More than 220 paintings, photographs and sculptures housed in government buildings were auctioned last month at Budapest’s Pinter Gallery to help raise funds for those affected by the toxic sludge spillage across western Hungary in October. The works, ranging in price from $5 to $1,500, date from the country’s communist era.
Taiwan: The Taiwanese tourist board has turned a former brothel on the island of Kinmen into a museum. It is one of 11 legally sanctioned “military” brothels that opened on the island during the Cold War. It will feature photos and posters from the bordello’s heyday.
UAE: Agence France-Muséums, the French government organisation behind the Louvre Abu Dhabi project set to open in 2013, has revealed aspects of the museum’s content and structure. The institution will be divided into 12 sections, showing art from the Neolithic period to today. All religions will be represented, with a focus on Judaism, Christianity and Islam (see feature, p28).
US: The Clyfford Still Museum in Denver has filed a petition to sell four paintings bequeathed by Still’s late wife, Patricia, which could boost the institution’s endowment by $25m. Museum director Dean Sobel said the sale did not technically violate regulations, as the institution, which is scheduled to open next year, does not yet formally own the works.
US: The National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, has withdrawn a work by David Wojnarowicz from its exhibition of gay art, Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. The censored video, A Fire in My Belly, shows a crucifix covered in ants. House Republican leader John Boehner and the Catholic League have spoken out against the piece, which symbolises the plight of Aids sufferers.
Seen in the Art Newspaper, New York Times, Guardian, Denver Post, BBC and Agence France-Presse
