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May 22, 1999
CONTENTS:
- Stockholm's Modern Museum puzzled by claims art student urinated in Marcel Duchamp's pissoirs
- Reward Offered For Stolen Vase
- alarm systems and their shortcomings
- Paris museum workers shut down attractions for third day
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Stockholm's Modern Museum said Thursday it was puzzled by claims by a Swedish art student that he urinated in one of French artist Marcel Duchamp's white porcelain pissoirs.
``There's no real evidence that the arts student did what he said he did,'' Modern Museum director David Elliott told Reuters. But he said a student had told the museum earlier this week that he had urinated in the famous porcelain ``Fountain'' pissoir last week and had a picture to prove it. Elliott, who said it was unclear whether there were traces of urine in the urinal, said the photo was probably a fake. The museum was not planning to examine Duchamp's work for evidence. Duchamp first signed a urinal in 1917, declaring it modern art and entitling it ``Fountain.'' Many critics say pop art can be traced back to this event. ``We deplore not only his taste but his knowledge of Duchamp and if it were actually genuine we would have no alternative but to turn this over to the police,'' Elliott said. Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet published a picture of the student, Bjorn Kjelltoft, urinating in the pissoir and quoted him as saying his act was intended as an artistic statement. ``I wanted to have a dialogue with Duchamp,'' he was quoted as saying. ``He raised an everyday object to a work of art and I'm turning it back again into an everyday object.''
Reward Offered For Stolen Vase
- (WILMINGTON) -- The Delaware Art Museum is offering a reward for return of a vase stolen last month. Museum officials say anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the theft will be entitled to three-thousand-dollars.
Museum-L From: Susan Young syoung@NWARK.NET
Subject: alarm systems and their shortcomings
Our alarm system (fire and intrusion) has its central panel located in our main museum building, with "satellite" alarms in our historic outbuildings working off this central panel. To make a long story short, we continually have problems with false alarms originating in the outbuildings, especially during stormy weather, and the alarm technicians say that nothing can be done to fix this problem, because the root of it lies with the fact that our configuration requires a central alarm with satellite alarms in the outbuildings.
Is there anyone out there who has a configuration similar to ours that is enjoying successful operation of their alarm system? Our staff members are getting really tired of having to come to the museum at 2 am during a rain storm because the alarms are going off.
Regards,
Susan Young
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
Paris museum workers shut down attractions for third day
Louvre, Versailles, Arc de Triomphe among sites affected
May 21, 1999
Web posted at: 10:27 a.m. EDT (1427 GMT)
PARIS (AP) -- Workers at museums and monuments voted Thursday to prolong a strike that has shut down major French museums including the Louvre as well as chateaux and other national treasures. A protest was scheduled for Friday at the Louvre.
The strike began Wednesday by workers demanding that the Culture Ministry employ more people to help run museums, monuments and other cultural sites.
The walkout has even affected the Culture Ministry, as well as the Arc de Triomphe, the chateaux at Versailles and Fontainebleau, and the Orsay, Picasso and Cluny museums in Paris among many others.
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