Hasta La Ideas

Fresh off last month’s controversial altercation between the Tate Britain and press photographers, it’s been announced that the regularly-maligned Turner Prize has plans to once again hightail it out of London. For the third time in its nearly-three decades, the shortlisted pieces and the one eventual prize winner will be held elsewhere come 2013, when it will all be hosted in the city of Derry, in Northern Ireland. The plan for the move is largely similar when it moved just three years ago and was held in Liverpool: to show more work outside of the UK’s artistic center and to celebrate the country’s newly-annual designation of a “City of Culture” (the thinking probably also factors in that it won’t hurt to throw a bone to the people outside of London after all that attention they’re going to get for the 2012 Olympics). While they still have a little while to decide what will be involved in hosting perhaps the country’s most famous art prize, here’s a bit from the Guardian‘s report on where in Derry it might wind up:

The venue for the 2013 Turner prize exhibition has not yet been decided. However, it is likely to be staged in a new or converted space. Possible sites include the former Ebrington army barracks, which were closed in 2003.

Designated for redevelopment under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the barracks, on the banks of the Foyle, are largely 19th-century buildings covering 26 acres.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Holland’s new museum paying tribute to some of the world’s rarest classic cars

A 1914 Dodge Type 30 was the initial inspiration for the Louwman Collection of classic cars and automotive art housed in the newly-constructed National Automobile Museum of the Netherlands in the Hague. Located near the Queen’s Palace, the collection dates back to 1934 when a Dutch car importer happened upon the 20-year-old Dodge that was already vintage classic. The Louwman family continued to expand over the years to its current size, boasting over 230 cars.

The cars are divided up into sections consisting of Dawn of Motoring, Motoring, Racing and Luxury. Highlights include a 1900 Georges Richard, which is rumored to have been found in a Parisian side street and “Genevieve,” a 1904 Darracq from the 1953 film. Rare 1948 Tatra T87 and a Spatz Victoria bubble car with central tube chassis, are both designed by the legendary Hans Ledwinka.

The collection includes an impressive range of vehicles, ranging in year and stature from 1944 Willys Jeep Model MB to a 1875 Thirion Modele N 2 Horse Drawn Steam Fire-Engine and 1922 American Lafrance Hook and Ladder Aerial Type 31/6.

Conceived by architecture firm Michael Graves & Associates, the 185,000-square-foot structure with its peaked roofs and woven brick facade, consists of temporary and permanent exhibition galleries, a reception hall, an auditorium and workshops for conservation and car repairs.

Speaking of museums, financial issues, and building plans, as we have been all morning, perhaps the most uplifting story of the year that concerned all three involved the Berkeley Museum of Art and the Pacific Film Archives. After finding themselves too cash-strapped to afford a brand new building designed by hot shot architect Toyo Ito, the organization managed to remain undeterred, pressed forward, found themselves an already-built building, and hired Diller Scofido + Renfro to rehab it for them. Unfortunately, as positive as that story has played out thus far, the San Francisco Chronicle has dug into the finances behind the project and found that both UC Berkeley and the museum/archives themselves aren’t quite sure who is going to be giving them a chunk money needed to complete the project, which is somewhat troubling given that it was fundraising woes that killed off the original Toyo Ito building. Though both groups are confident they’ll find a way to get what they need, the whole situation seems very similar to what’s happening at Michigan State University, where they’re still trying to raise the last $6 million needed to finish off a museum designed by their own hot shot architect, Zaha Hadid.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Between the Smithsonian fighting off forcing patrons to pay for tickets to its museums and San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum facing bankruptcy (a problem it’s still working through), we’ve been talking a lot lately about how times are still tough for museums. Now the NY Times has put together this brief, interesting look at the Guggenheim Foundation‘s tax filings, showing just how awful 2008 was for them (“the museum’s net assets declined by 25 percent”), how things picked up a bit in 2009, but with cuts and layoffs, still weren’t great, and how the cultural organization is hoping for a better 2010. This year has been filled with lots of high-profile partnerships and fun press, but how much of that translates into money-in-the-bank, that’s for next year’s tax forms to reveal. It’s also a good look at what it’s been paying its still-new-ish director, Richard Armstrong, who pocketed a salary of more than $600,000 last year. Here’s a bit:

The latest tax filings show that 2009 was not nearly as bad, though the numbers still offer cause for concern. Despite a round of layoffs (completed midyear), expenses exceeded revenue by more than $12 million. Contributions were down from the previous year, to $20 million. The foundation’s endowment decreased slightly, to $62.5 million from $64.4 million.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last month’s artwork attack in Loveland, Colorado resulted in something positive for the affected artist, Enrique Chagoya, and the local community, when a church there commissioned him to paint for them. And now a fitting end to the altercation has come for the attacker, as well. The local paper reports that Katheleen Folden, a resident of Montana who had driven to the small town intent on destroying Chagoya’s controversial paneled lithograph, “The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals,” and did so with a crowbar, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced. A judge ordered her to perform public service, stay away from the museum, and serve 18 month of probation. The paper reports that she will also attend mental health meetings and evaluations, and will eventually pay restitution, likely to both Chagoya and the Loveland Museum Gallery, though how much to each will be determined toward the end of January. Here’s a bit more:

Deputy District Attorney Josh Lehman said he thought the case’s resolution was appropriate and that although Folden purposefully destroyed the artwork, she did so carefully.

“She had a plan and she executed that plan,” he said. “But she wanted to make sure that no one around got hurt.”

After she ripped the piece of artwork to pieces, he said, she sat down and waited to be arrested.

While this is something that’s against the law, it’s about as peaceful a way to do it as can be done,” he said. “And that says a lot.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.