News Digest Week of November 2

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MoMA’s proposed Jean Nouvel-designed tower–seen here in three stages of planning–has been approved by New York’s City Council. ; Via Hines

Halloween came and went this week, and the scariest thing in the art world may have been the pop-out prosthetic tongue in Urs Fischer’s New Museum show–unless, that is, the politicization of art and cultural heritage gives you the heebie-jeebies.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: THE MET PLACATES EGYPT, & SINGAPORE EMBRACES ART

It’s been nearly four years since Greece and Italy won landmark victories in their campaign to retrieve looted antiquities from U.S. museums, winning back dozens of objects from the Met, the Getty, and other institutions. (Read on.)

MOMA GETS SKYSCRAPER, GROUND ZERO ARTS SPACE STRUGGLES, & CONGRESS GIVES ARTS MORE $$$

In New York, MoMA won city approval for its controversial expansion, an 82-story skyscraper designed by Jean Nouvel that will include more exhibition space along with deluxe apartments and a hotel. Originally planned to be as tall as the Empire State Building, the tower lost 225 feet in city negotiations but still angers opponents in midtown, who find the building hubristic and too dwarfing. (Read on.)

PERFORMA DEBUTS TASTILY, URS FISCHER IMPRESSES, & THE GUGGENHEIM HONORS ARTISTS WITH A WINK

A string of gala events in New York last week pumped some excitement into the art world, combining with artist-thrown Halloween parties—like Kenny Scharf’s day-glow affair in Brooklyn—to make for an unusually full week. (Read on.)

COMINGS, GOINGS, & A HALLOWEEN TREAT

Miami Art Museum director Terry Riley, a former MoMA architecture curator, abruptly stepped down from his post last week—just days after designs for the Miami museum’s long-in-the-works new building were unveiled. (Read on.)

ARTISTS IN THE NEWS:

picture-1 Mary Heilmann