The Week That Was (June 13 – 20, 2008)

NEW YORK—According to a study released this week, billionaires are propping up the art market. That’s good news for Damien Hirst. Now the YBA — or was that MBA? — is playing his ultimate market card: bringing a group of his pieces straight to auction, at a sale at Sotheby’s London in September called “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever.” How could it be anything but beautiful inside the Brit artist’s head, given the pounds of pounds his artworks pull in every year — and euros! and dollars! Bet that DJ who threw out his Hirst by accident regrets it even more. Meanwhile, London is gearing up for a contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s that will include U2’s Basquiat and Antony Gormley’s maquette for Angel of the North. Billionaires, start your engines.

In other news, a Gormley piece for entirely ordinary people will soon be unveiled in London. His project on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth involves members of the public standing on top of the plinth 24 hours a day. And street artist Banksy’s work, which is, in theory, intended for public places (if, ahem, illegally), continues to rake in hefty sums at auction.

Remember that Czech art collective that superimposed a nuclear mushroom cloud on a television weather report? They are to pay fines of $3,210 apiece. The UK’s tallest artwork was unveiled, and thanks to the ACLU, nudes will remain on view in San Mateo, California. The Smithsonian is working on improving the way profits are distributed to its museums. Harvard is expanding its art museums, the Barnes will move (that’s it, that’s all, no more fighting it), and things look iffy for the Guggenheim Guadalajara. And a study in Russia determined that rock concerts at museums can indeed damage artworks. How does that bode for Duran Duran at the Louvre? Good thing Amy Winehouse played Dasha Zhukova’s new contemporary art center in Moscow before the Kabakovs show was installed. Rock on…