Art Outlook: 15 January

Some of the stories and discussions we’ve spotted online this week

Who should restore Glasgow’s Mackintosh Building?

Five architecture firms have been shortlisted to lead the restoration of Glasgow School of Art’s fire-damaged Mackintosh Building, with a final decision expected in March. But in the meantime someone has to repair the windows on the Reid Building next door: last week’s hurricane-force winds blew parts of the emergency roofing off the Mackintosh and into the building’s glass façade.

Museum of Fine Arts Houston announces $450million expansion

The MFA Houston has announced plans to dramatically redevelop its campus over the next five years. The designs, by Steven Holl Architects, include two new buildings (one housing exhibition rooms, a theatre, a restaurant and other public amenities, the other a conservation centre) and an extended plaza and sculpture garden.

TEFAF appoints a new CEO

Paul Hustinx will leave TEFAF this spring after 17 years as the fair’s Chief Executive, to be replaced by Patrick van Maris. He joins from Sotheby’s, where he’s held a string of senior management roles. Most recently, he worked with TEFAF to investigate the possibility of opening an art fair in Beijing.

Graham Beal to retire from the Detroit Institute of Arts

Beal, who has acted as the DIA’s director, president and CEO for the last 16 years, apparently waited until the collection was secured as part of last year’s ‘grand bargain’ before announcing his retirement. He will leave in June, having seen the institute safely through a very rocky year.

Stolen sculpture shows up in museum toilet

In a strange echo of last year’s Medardo Rosso theft in Rome, a bronze sculpture by Jean de Boulogne went missing from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs last weekend, only to show up in the museum toilets a few hours later after a security alert. (For an English report, click here)

Gagosian’s sushi gets no stars

Larry Gagosian has teamed up with the chef Masayoshi Takayama to open a Japanese restaurant. So what happens when you apply art-world prices to relatively ordinary sushi? Pete Wells of The New York Times isn’t buying it. ‘[If] you are one of those people who suspects that Manhattan is being remade as a private playground for millionaires who either don’t mind spending hundreds of dollars for mediocrity or simply can’t tell the difference’, he says, ‘Kappo Masa is not going to convince you that you’re wrong.’