artnet News – Kenny Schachter on Jeff Koons’s Gift to Paris
The ‘Mona Lisa’ Experience: How the Louvre’s First-Ever VR Project, a 7-Minute Immersive da Vinci Odyssey, Works
Experience the ‘Mona Lisa’ without the crowds.
Sometimes visitors to the Louvre can have a hard time glimpsing the Mona Lisa. It’s just 30 inches tall, tucked behind a layer of bulletproof glass and, more often than not, a throng of tourists jostling to capture selfies. While the museum has recently introduced a single-file line system to try and get around the over-crowding, around 80 percent of the museum’s 10 million yearly visitors still wend their way to the Salle des États to catch a glimpse of the work.
Visitors walk as the billboard of Art Basel is shown in Hong Kong on March 27, 2019. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) (Photo credit should read PHILIP FONG/AFP/Getty Images)Despite Simmering Political Unrest, Art Basel Hong Kong Releases a Hefty Exhibitor List With New Names—and a Few Absences
The exhibitor list for Art Basel Hong Kong’s 2020 edition is out, complete with 242 participating galleries.
It appears that most galleries remain committed to the market in Hong Kong—and to Art Basel Hong Kong in particular—despite the continually fragile political situation in the city. The fair released its 2020 exhibitor list today, which includes 242 galleries, the exact same number as in 2019—although there are some notable absences and new additions.
In a World Rent Asunder by Protest, Kenny Schachter Goes Shopping for Art at FIAC—and Pays a Little Visit to That Jeff Koons
Our columnist was not amused by the mega-artist’s “gift” to Paris.
Before I launch into a brief fair recap, some thoughts on the upcoming auctions and state of art collecting, as insignificant as it all sounds in relation to what’s happening in the world. The suppression of the global appetite for financial risk is intensifying in these near-anarchic times, with violent riots spreading across Hong Kong, Lebanon, Chile, Ecuador, Jakarta, Barcelona, and Paris (in plain view of the Grand Palais, site of last week’s FIAC fair). That’s not even to mention the Turkish incursions into Syria to extirpate the Kurds—with tacit US approval—and impeachment proceedings gaining momentum against the US president as I type.
