Australia
Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is showing more than 100 works at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania (until 2 April), the institution launched last year by the collector and professional gambler David Walsh. The exhibition includes the installation Cloaca Professional (2010), a series of chambers that emulate the human digestive system and produce artificial faeces.
Dubai
An Iranian-born entrepreneur has converted a warehouse in the Al Quoz district into a gallery that will host exhibitions of works drawn from private collections worldwide. Businessman Ramin Salsali, who is the sole backer of the venture, plans to show pieces drawn from his own 400-strong collection. He also hopes to open a gallery in Berlin for Middle Eastern art.
France
Thieves have stolen a Saudi quartz falcon from the Jacques Chirac museum in Corrèze, Limousin. The robbers smashed the glass case containing the piece, which is decorated with 1,400 precious stones including diamonds, rubies and emeralds. The museum houses more than 5,000 items given to Chirac by various heads of state during his time as president.
The Netherlands
Experts have discovered a new painting by Rembrandt after X-ray analysis revealed an unfinished portrait beneath the work, Bearded Old Man. Ernst van de Wetering of the Rembrandt Research Project dated the small painting, which belongs to a private collector, to 1630. It will go on show this spring at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam.
Qatar
The Gulf state is building a contemporary art empire, following the opening last month in Doha of a major show devoted to Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang at the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (until 26 May), and the launch of the Museum of Islamic Art park. An 80-foot sculpture created by US artist Richard Serra is the centrepiece of the 68-acre site.
US
Four trustees at Miami Art Museum have resigned in protest following a board decision to rename the institution the Jorge M Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County after a property developer. Pérez will give $35m in cash and art over the next 10 years towards the institution, which plans to relocate to a new building on the city waterfront by 2013. Mary Frank, a former trustee, said the museum “had sold its name”.
Seen in the Art Newspaper, Miami Herald, Huffington Post and artinfo.com
Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is showing more than 100 works at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania (until 2 April), the institution launched last year by the collector and professional gambler David Walsh. The exhibition includes the installation Cloaca Professional (2010), a series of chambers that emulate the human digestive system and produce artificial faeces.
Dubai
An Iranian-born entrepreneur has converted a warehouse in the Al Quoz district into a gallery that will host exhibitions of works drawn from private collections worldwide. Businessman Ramin Salsali, who is the sole backer of the venture, plans to show pieces drawn from his own 400-strong collection. He also hopes to open a gallery in Berlin for Middle Eastern art.
France
Thieves have stolen a Saudi quartz falcon from the Jacques Chirac museum in Corrèze, Limousin. The robbers smashed the glass case containing the piece, which is decorated with 1,400 precious stones including diamonds, rubies and emeralds. The museum houses more than 5,000 items given to Chirac by various heads of state during his time as president.
The Netherlands
Experts have discovered a new painting by Rembrandt after X-ray analysis revealed an unfinished portrait beneath the work, Bearded Old Man. Ernst van de Wetering of the Rembrandt Research Project dated the small painting, which belongs to a private collector, to 1630. It will go on show this spring at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam.
Qatar
The Gulf state is building a contemporary art empire, following the opening last month in Doha of a major show devoted to Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang at the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (until 26 May), and the launch of the Museum of Islamic Art park. An 80-foot sculpture created by US artist Richard Serra is the centrepiece of the 68-acre site.
US
Four trustees at Miami Art Museum have resigned in protest following a board decision to rename the institution the Jorge M Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County after a property developer. Pérez will give $35m in cash and art over the next 10 years towards the institution, which plans to relocate to a new building on the city waterfront by 2013. Mary Frank, a former trustee, said the museum “had sold its name”.
Seen in the Art Newspaper, Miami Herald, Huffington Post and artinfo.com
