Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel is currently working on the grounds of Versaille, creating a trio of fountain sculptures for the palace that will be the first permanent art pieces installed on its grounds in over 300 years.  “As an artist, and a French artist in particular, there is something very special about making a mark on the land that Le Nôtre and Louis XIV designed,” Othoniel says. (more…)

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is actively courting the Guggenheim Foundation to open a location on the grounds of the 2012 London Olympics, the Art Newspaper reports.  The area, which has already been earmarked as a new cultural quarter called E20, will be home to a new location for the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Johnson wants the Guggenheim to set up shop as well.  “We are in talks with other global cultural brands, as we will need at least one more cultural institution to achieve the critical mass and very high visitor numbers the site deserves,” Johnson says. (more…)