Sydney Opera House to get cutting-edge renovations

Sydney Opera House roof to undergo modernisation | Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House is to undergo a process of conservation and modernisation, reports The Art Newspaper. The structure’s glazed ceramic tiles are in need of regular maintenance, requiring engineers to abseil down the Opera House’s roof looking for changes in sound and appearance. The modernisation process, a joint initiative between Arup, the Getty Foundation and the Opera House itself, will see cutting-edge technology deployed to make the hazardous maintenance operation currently in place a thing of the past.

Leo Villareal gets commission to light up London’s bridges | New York artist Leo Villareal has been chosen from a six-strong shortlist to illuminate London’s 17 bridges. Villareal, who was behind the project to light up San Francisco Bay Bridge, is proposing a display across the bridges that he describes as a ‘rhythm of light’. Hannah Rothschild, chair of the Illuminated River Foundation, described Villareal’s plans as ‘beautiful, ambitious and realisable but always considerate to the environment, lighting levels and energy conservation’.

Noordbrabants Museum acquires Van Gogh watercolour | Den Bosch’s Het Noordbrabants Museum has acquired Vincent Van Gogh’s 1885 watercolour The Garden of the Vicarage at Nuenen from a private collection. The artist lived in the vicarage with his parents for around 18 months and there is a larger painting that was lost during the Second World War. According to the museum, this watercolour gives a rough idea of how the missing canvas might have looked.

Brett Gorvy to leave Christie’s for Dominique Lévy | Brett Gorvy, chairman and international head of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s New York, is to leave the auction house to take up a new role with Swiss gallerist Dominique Lévy. Gorvy, who has been at Christie’s for 23 years, is to become a partner at Lévy’s gallery, the flagship Madison Avenue branch of which will now be renamed Lévy Gorvy.