Goering’s Catalogue of Nazi-Looted Art Made Public

Goering’s Catalogue of Nazi-Looted Art Published in Full | A handwritten list of items in Hermann Goering’s ill-begotten collection was published today by Flammarion. Goering amassed a wealth of looted or confiscated masterpieces at Carinhall, his country home near Berlin. Until now, the catalogue has been available only to scholars at the French Diplomatic Archives. Hopefully its publication will aid efforts to return Nazi-looted artworks to their rightful owners.

French Government Moves to Protect Artistic Freedoms | The French National Assembly passed a law on Monday protecting artistic freedom. ‘We must must ensure that art can continue to disturb’, asserted culture minister Fleur Pellerin, while presumably breathing a sigh of relief that conservative politicians had not exercised their freedom to object to the bill, as many feared they would.

Royal College of Art Closes Undergraduate Course | London’s RCA has decided to suspend this year’s design interaction course in order ‘to focus on the continuing students’, The Art Newspaper reports. The institution has been hit by a series of staff resignations this year as well as government funding cuts.

Amnesty International Declare Cuban Street Artist Prisoner of Conscience | Human rights organisation Amnesty International has called for the release of Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado, declaring him a prisoner of conscience. The artist, otherwise known as ‘El Sexto’, was imprisoned for ‘disrespect of the leaders of the revolution’ Fidel and Raul Castro, after painting their forenames on the behinds of two pigs last December. His case echoes that of Iranian artist Atena Farghadani, sentenced to 12 years in jail for depicting government officials as farm animals. What effect, if any, will either case have in the US, which has encouraged new diplomatic relations with both countries this year?

Sharjah Biennial Curator Named | Christine Tohmé will oversee the artistic direction of the next Sharjah Biennial, which opens in 2017. The Beirut-based contemporary art specialist founded her home city’s non-profit Ashkal Alwan (the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts) in 1993, and later launched the recurring Home Works art event, which The Art Newspaper calls a ‘de facto biennial for the Lebanese capital’.

Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Hopeful About Nefertiti’s Tomb Lead | Mamdouh el-Damaty, Egypt’s minister of antiquities, has stoked speculations that queen Nefertiti’s final resting place is a hidden chamber accessible from the tomb of Tutankhamun. The suggestion was originally made by British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves after studying Factum Arte’s high resolution scans of the tomb: ‘I agree with him that there’s probably something behind the walls’, said el-Damaty, while touring Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Disruption at Beijing Biennale’s Armenian Pavilion | A group of Azeri men tried to remove artworks from the Armenian Pavilion at the Beijing Biennale, approaching the stand in the guise of officials, according to a statement posted by the pavilion organisers. Azerbaijan and Armenia are engaged in an ongoing border dispute: the targeted works depict the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. An Azeri site, however, asserts that the men were delegates sent to inform people about their country’s claim to the land.