There are claims of censorship in Istanbul as eight artists and an artist collective have made a joint decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Modern museum’s ongoing Reality and Dream exhibition, which chronicles the works of female artists from Turkey since the 1900s.

Via Hyperallergic.

Can’t we all just get along? The Elysee Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland alleges clothing company Lacoste tried to censor an artist for being too pro-Palestinian. In support of the artist, the gallery later released another statement suspending the contest and its relationship with Lacoste.

I guess they can always deaccession some work to make up for the 25,000 euro they lost.

Via the BBC.

So claims Forbes Magazine, and what happens to that world when another billionaire enters the fray.

The law strikes again!

According to the NY Post, New York City’s “Department of Health warned the New Museum yesterday that it can no longer have more than one visitor at a time splashing around — often nude — in a giant bathtub that’s part of an adult-playground exhibition.” “The Health Department contacted administrators at the New Museum and advised them of the requirements in the Health Code and the conditions that would require approval and a permit,” said the DOH’s John Kelly.

And that’s not all. City “officials are also investigating whether other parts of the exhibit — a giant slide and a carousel — meet city regulations, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs said.

And some folks don’t like it.

Rufino Tamayo’s “Watermelon Slices” is being sold by New York’s Museum of Modern Art to raise money for its acquisition fund. It will be auctioned on Nov. 16 in Sotheby’s Latin American art fall sale.

Via Yahoo!News and Reuters.

Despite being the estimated third highest-grossing criminal trade worldwide, behind only drugs and arms, according to the US Department of Justice, Scotland Yard, the Carabinieri, and other notable sources, art crime has been largely overlooked as a field of study.

Noah Charney on Art Crimes and Art Historical Mysteries.

Yes, according to the Art Newspaper.

A recent spate of high profile thefts suggests that art crime is increasing. The FBI estimates that international art crime, which includes fakes, forgeries and thefts, is now worth more than $6bn annually.

Members of Teamsters Local 814 allege they are being locked out over a contract dispute with Sotheby’s. They also allege Sotheby’s is asking for pay cuts and wants to change seniority rules even after posting profits of close to $700 million. Sotheby’s has hired temporary employees to take their place.

Via NY1.

The annual legal problems in museum administration conference was held last month. A few “hot” topics hit the agenda. Not surprisingly, copyright and fair use was in the mix. Other topics were federal resale rights, moral rights, and broken donor pledges. On the current “hot” topic concerning the academic and institutional use of copyrighted images, Theodore Feder, president of New York’s Artists Rights Society, had this to say.

[T]he society accepts “the use of thumbnails before, during and after an exhibition.” Under US “fair use” rules, which allows for the reproduction of copyrighted works in certain educational and other circumstances, “we accept as fair use a scholarly publication of under 3,000 copies [but] not a coffee table book,” plus reproductions used in research and news reporting[.]

The conference was organized by the American Law Institute-American Bar Association and sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Association of Museums. More via The Art Newspaper here.

Today.

Burglars have pilfered artwork from a Southampton home owned by the widow of a former city political power broker and, in the French island of Corsica, a bizarre story unfolded early Saturday morning when a security guard, Antoine Mocellini, stole four artworks and held them for ransom, demanding that authorities provide him with a place to live. But when he led police to his car, where he said he had stashed the works of art, it had been broken into and the works had disappeared.