The rat, the rabbit and Yves St Laurent

"...two Qianlong bronze heads, of a rat and a rabbit, were looted from the Yuanming Yuan Summer Palace in Beijing by Franco-British forces in 1860 during the Opium Wars. They were two of 12 heads which adorned a Zodiac fountain, five of which have never resurfaced." more from Artworld Salon.
Have a look at the auction page from Christie's devoted to these sculptures.

Check this out. "Now Jackie Chan has added his two cents worth, according to Charles Bremner, the London Times’ Paris correspondent.

“ ‘They remain looted items, no matter whom they were sold to. Whoever took it out [of China] is himself a thief,’ he said in Hong Kong. ‘It was looting yesterday. It is still looting today.’
The star of Shanghai Knights and Rush Hour accused Western countries of stealing cultural relics from nations with ancient heritage such as China, Egypt and Cambodia and yet insisting they were doing so only to preserve them.
Chan said that he is planning a film about the search for and return of some of China’s stolen national treasures from the palace with filming scheduled to start next year.” From the National Post.

Jason Song Hats

As a young man, Mr. Song, 36, had no intention of taking over the business his parents, Han and Jin Song, started after emigrating from South Korea in 1982. After studying biochemistry in college, he left one semester short of a degree to pursue art studies at Parsons the New School for Design in New York. . .
An early success came in a hat he designed from a chicken-wire base and covered with silk, chiffon and trimmings. Word of the creation, which cost $200 and up, flew through the hat world. More...

Nick Cave, Sound Suits

YBCA presents the largest scale presentation of work by Chicago-based artist and former Alvin Ailey dancer, Nick Cave, featuring fifty of his "soundsuits"—multi-layered mixed-media, wearable sculptures named for the sounds made when the sculptures are worn. As reminiscent of African and religious ceremonial costumes as they are of haute couture, Cave's work explores issues of ceremony, ritual, myth and identity. He does this through a layering of concepts, highly-skilled techniques and varied traditions, using materials such as fabrics, beads, sequins, old bottle caps, rusted iron, sticks, twigs, leaves and hair. Mad, humorous, elaborate, grotesque, glamorous and unexpected, the soundsuits are created from scavenged ordinary materials—detritus from both nature and culture—that Cave re-contextualizes into visionary masterpieces.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

Paik Nam June Art Center to Open in October

"Three Elements" (1997-2000) by Paik Nam June

Korea Times Art exhibit listing

Using Old Materials to Put a New Face on a Museum

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

The Museum of Arts and Design’s first exhibitions at 2 Columbus Circle, “Second Lives” (including Jean Shin’s “Sound Wave,” above), “Permanently Mad” and “Elegant Armor,” open Saturday. The shows, Roberta Smith writes, reflect an institution “wild with delight” at having a building of its own.
Art Review | 'Second Lives'

By ROBERTA SMITH

Published: September 25, 2008

Bring on the T-shirts that read, “I survived the opening shows at the new Museum of Arts and Design.”

Untethered

A sculpture garden of readymades
September 25 - October 25, 2008
Opening: Thurs., Sept. 25, 6PM
540 W. 21st St.

Read the review on We Make Money Not Art

New Media Seoul

I saw some great pieces of media art in Seoul and they put the emphasis on 'art' rather than 'media'. media_city Seoul is the only major biennial I've heard of that is entirely dedicated to media art. It doesn't take place in a gallery or in one of those ueber-trendy disused industrial spaces outside the city. It is located in a very official, big, and bright art institution: the Seoul Museum of Art.
from We Make Money Not Art
Read this blog and the follow-up blog and reflect on these questions: What is media art? Why is it different from conventional art?