The New York Times writes on Jeff Koons’s bouquet of flowers sculpture for Paris, intended as a gift to the city in the wake of terrorist attacks, and on the strings attached to the gift that have complicated its installation process. “They presented this bouquet as a symbolic present to Paris, but then we realized it wasn’t exactly a present, since France had to pay to install it,” says art critic Isabel Pasquier. “Whether you appreciate his art or not, Jeff Koons is a businessman, and we quickly understood that he was offering Paris to himself as a present.”
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Reports on a drop in UK lottery sales bodes poorly for arts funding in the country, as the total sales for the past year drop by £55 million.  “Given the current climate of economic uncertainty and increasing competition from the gambling sector, we expect 2017/18 to be equally, if not more, challenging for the National Lottery,” says Camelot (the UK Lottery operator) Chairman Jo Taylor.
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Documenta is planning a permanent “Documenta Institute” in the city of Kassel, which will serve as a research center and events site.  The site is planned as a way to “keep alive the concept and experience of Documenta in the years between exhibitions,” according to a statement by the city. 
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