PARIS — Scattered throughout the cavernous nave of the Grand Palais are mountains of shipping containers. Green, blue, and brown, corporate logos and serial numbers stamped on their sides, they reach up to the resplendent glass ceiling of the Palais, like mounds of oversized Legos.
PARIS — On Saturday afternoon, people trickled across the large plaza in front of the Hôtel de Ville. Pausing to admire city hall’s façade, some snapped pictures while others gathered around a group of break-dancers before shuffling off. Meanwhile, tucked away in a far corner of the plaza, an eclectic group was hanging painted banners that read “Modèles” (“Models”), “Modèles d’art: Poser c’est un métier!” (“Live modeling: it’s a job too!”), and the name of their organization, Collectif des Modèles d’Art de Paris (Art Models Collective of Paris).
DES MOINES, Iowa — On June 27th, the third-worst flood in the history of Des Moines, Iowa’s Raccoon River, necessitated the quick and urgent rescue of “Wading Bridge,” the most recent installation by the New York-based artist Mary Mattingly. This move was the fifth of a total of nine displacements that the approximately 4,500-pound installation has endured to date. When floodwaters weren’t threatening to wash it away, it was (according to the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation) either the Army Corps of Engineers suddenly vetoing previously approved design proposals or the budget — insufficient to pay for a professional installation crew and equipment — that almost killed the project.
