PARIS (AP) ― The Louvre Museum is used to dealing with antiquities: Nearly all of its thousands of works of art date to 1848 or earlier. Now, it wants to create a relic of its own ― the old museum audio guide.The famed Paris museum, whose origins date to the 18th century, is pressing on toward modernity and going visual with new electronic guides in a deal with Japan’s Nintendo. The guide provides 3DS game consoles that offer touch-screen, visual-and-audio guidance for visitors who teem the muse

VENICE (AFP) ― French luxury billionaire Francois Pinault Friday expressed his passion for art at the inauguration of a new exhibition by New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer at his Venice palace.“It’s an important part of my activities,” Pinault told AFP on the sidelines of the exhibition in Palazzo Grassi on the picturesque banks of the Grand Canal.“This is my passion, it’s not work as you know. It’s something else. It goes well beyond,” said the 75-year-old founder of fashion and luxury gr

ROME (AP) ― One of Italy’s top culture officials has pushed private investment in the country’s museums and galleries and the seemingly insatiable Chinese and Indian appetites for art and archaeology as the way to pull the country out of its recession.Mario Resca, a former CEO of McDonald’s Italian operations who was appointed in 2008 by the government of Silvio Berlusconi to be director-general of the Culture Ministry, said that an increase in ticket sales to Italian museums has not been matche

LONDON (AP) ― Robyn is turning photographer, for a day.The Swedish pop singer is joining an anti-apartheid icon, a former Irish president and thousands of people around the world in an attempt to capture a day in the life of the planet.The project ― aday.org ― is inspired by the “Family of Man,’’ a 1955 exhibition of international photography that became a multi-million-selling book.Since then, digital technology and the Internet have made millions of people published photographers, and the proj

DUBLIN (AFP) ― An artist is welcoming tourists to his Dublin home ― made from 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of shredded bank notes ― to stimulate debate about Ireland’s ailing economy, he told AFP on Monday.Frank Buckley built the three-roomed apartment-cum-gallery over three months, from bricks made of mulched, decommissioned notes provided by Ireland’s Central Bank.With the help of some donated timber and a door and a window given by a friend, the total cost to the struggling artist was jus

LONDON (AP) ― Two Chinese artifacts with an estimated combined value of 2 million pounds ($3.2 million) have been stolen from a British museum, authorities said Saturday.Two men and a woman from the West Midlands area have been arrested in connection with the Thursday night theft at Durham University’s Oriental Museum, but the items had not yet been recovered, police said.The northern England-based university confirmed that two “priceless’’ artifacts were stolen when thieves broke into a ground-

CHICAGO (AP) ― High tech merged with high culture Tuesday at The Art Institute of Chicago when Google Inc. announced an upgrade to its Google Art Project initiative, adding thousands of works in dozens more countries.The project provides access to more than 30,000 ultra-high resolution images of paintings, sculptures and photographs from 151 museums and other institutions in 40 countries. Google Art Project launched in February 2011 with about 1,000 artworks from such institutions as the Tate Ga

LONDON (AFP) ― Artist Tracey Emin unveiled Tuesday the first of nine British Airways planes specially painted to look like golden doves to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games.The exterior designs were done by artist-designer Pascal Anson, who was mentored by Emin.The first “Dove” ― an Airbus A319 ― has been painted with gold strokes to represent the feathers.The cockpit has been resprayed to look like a beak, with the body, wings and tail also getting a makeover.Emin and Anson unveiled the new de