Most Keenly Awaited Art-World Event: On Oct. 21 and 22, the Guggenheim Museum will be illuminated by 25 YouTube videos broadcast onto its facade. The unprecedented display is part of the museum’s “YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video,” a (controversial) partnering of the museum with Google, plus HP and Intel.
Winner of the Week: Paris, which got its own Gagosian Gallery Oct. 19. The über-dealer’s opening coincides with the yearly big-spending FIAC contemporary art fair in the European capital.
Loser of the Week: James Franco, named by Hyperallergic.com as No. 1 on the art world’s “Powerless” list. Chinese artists and art dealers who can’t speak a word of Arabic were also singled out.
This Week’s Best Party: The International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show (Oct. 21-28) and its lush opening-night benefit for Memorial Sloan-Kettering at the Park Avenue Armory. At a top ticket price of $5,000 per person, it’s Old Masters meets Old Money.
Best New Artwork: John Baldessari’s Palm Tree/Seascape, a larger-than-life-size ocean mural by the California artist installed this week in the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its Baldessari retrospective.
