Fascinating and challenging art project with serious environmental challenges.
via nytimes.com
The artist plans to install fabric over the Arkansas River.
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: November 7, 2011
DENVER — Federal regulators on Monday approved a $50 million installation of anchored fabric over the Arkansas River in southern Colorado by the artist Christo, whose larger-than-life vision has divided environmentalists, residents and politicians for years over questions of aesthetics, nature and economic impact.
Christo
The artist's drawing of the project, which will include eight suspended panel segments totaling 5.9 miles along a 42-mile stretch of the Arkansas River.
The project, “Over the River,” will include eight suspended panel segments totaling 5.9 miles along a 42-mile stretch of the river, about three hours southwest of Denver. Construction could begin next year, pending final local approvals, with the goal being a two-week display of the work as early as August 2014.
“Drawing visitors to Colorado to see this work will support jobs in the tourism industry and bring attention to the tremendous outdoor recreation opportunities,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. “We believe that steps have been taken to mitigate the environmental effects of this one-of-a-kind project.”
Christo, 76, said in an interview that the project had already made history for its interconnection of art and public participation, with a federal environmental impactstatement that drew thousands of comments.
Christo’s projects — from the wrapping of the ReichstagParliament building in Berlin in 1995 to “The Gates,” a meandering path of orange awnings through Central Park in New York in 2005 — have often generated heated debate in advance of their creation.
“We are elated,” Christo said. “Every artist in the world likes his or her work to make people think. Imagine how many people were thinking, how many professionals were thinking and writing in preparing that environmental impact statement.”
Permits are still needed from Fremont and Chaffee Counties, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the State Patrol. But Christo emphasized that those agencies had been working with the federal government all through the environmental impact study and were involved in shaping the mitigation measures included in Monday’s decision.
Federal officials said that “Over the River” could generate $121 million in economic output and draw 400,000 visitors, both during the construction — which could become its own tourist event — and the display itself.
Points of contention and controversy ranged from road safety in the narrow canyon highway through the installation zone, which extends from the towns of Salida to Cañon City, to potential impacts on wildlife, especially on the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that habituate the Arkansas River canyon and are Colorado’s state mammal.
In May, the Colorado Wildlife Commission, an advisory panel to the state’s Division of Parks and Wildlife, urged federal officials to reject Christo’s proposal, specifically citing its concerns about the sheep, and whether the chaos and traffic of construction could keep them from crucial water sources. A local opposition group complained in August that federal regulators were being unduly swayed by Christo, and that phrases like “artistic vision” in the impact study, rather than neutral terms like “proposed project,” suggested a predisposition to let him have his way.
The decision announced Monday spelled out measures to protect the sheep, including restricting activity in lambing season and a Bighorn Sheep Adaptive Management Fund, paid for by Christo, who is covering the full cost of the project via the sale of his work.
WASHINGTON -- Sorry, E.T. lovers - the White House says it has no evidence that extraterrestrials exist.
The White House made the unusual declaration in response to a feature on its website that allows people to submit petitions that administration officials must respond to if enough people sign on.
In this case, more than 5,000 people signed a petition demanding that the White House disclose the government's knowledge of extraterrestrial beings, and more than 12,000 signed another petition seeking formal acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race.
In response, Phil Larson of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy wrote that the U.S. government has no evidence that life exists outside Earth, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted any member of the human race.
"In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye," Larson wrote.
But he didn't close the door entirely on a close encounter of an alien kind, noting that many scientists and mathematicians believe that, statistically speaking, odds are high that there is life somewhere among the "trillions and trillions of stars in the universe" - although odds of making contact with non-humans are remote.
It's not the first petition to force the White House to engage on a somewhat off-beat topic since the "We the People" webpage was unveiled in September. The White House also has been forced to explain why it can't comment in response to a petition demanding "Try Casey Anthony in Federal Court for Lying to the FBI Investigators" (because it's a law enforcement matter).
And various petitions demanding legalization of marijuana have gathered more than 100,000 names, to which the White House argues that marijuana is associated with addiction, respiratory disease and cognitive impairment, and legalizing it would not be the answer.
The White House also has addressed topics including gay marriage and student loan debt.
When the website debuted, the White House promised to respond to any petition that garnered 5,000 or more signatures within 30 days, but it's now raised that threshold to 25,000.
via miamiherald.com
Important press release in case you missed it...
A 16th century painting on loan to a Florida museum was seized Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because it is suspected of having been looted during World War II. The Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, had loaned Girolamo Romano’s 1538 painting, “Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue,” to the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee in March as part of an exhibition of Baroque painting.
Once on display, descendants of a former owner, Giuseppe Gentili, identified the painting as one that had been looted by the collaborationist Vichy government in France and illegally sold at auction in 1941, after the Gentili family had been forced to flee the Nazis. The Pinacoteca acquired the painting in 1998.
The Gentili family and Italian officials have been negotiating over the status of the painting, which the Brogan kept for safekeeping after the rest of the Baroque exhibit closed in September. Chucha Barber, the Brogan’s chief executive, said the museum’s contract with the Pinacoteca had been extended to November 6th during the negotiations. But Ms. Barber said the family told her the negotiations had broken down.
On Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, Pamela Marsh, filed a seizure complaint and supporting affidavit in court.
“Agents from homeland security surrounded the building this morning,” as the painting was loaded into a white vehicle and taken to an undisclosed location, Ms. Barber said.
In a statement, Ms. Marsh said that federal law prevents the painting from being returned until the ownership disputes are resolved: “Our interest is strictly to follow the law and safeguard this work until the courts determine rightful ownership.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that a French court of Appeals in 1999 forced the Louvre Museum to return five paintings that had been owned by Gentili to the family after they had been sold at auction.
John Morton, director of customs and enforcement said; “It’s never too late to right a wrong.”
Interesting story...
via bassmuseum.org
