The Digest. 08.12.08.

Detail: Portrait of Juan Torres, 1920, by Salvador Dalí at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. (Photo by C-M.)

• Sometimes this shit just writes itself: “Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss Museum” (via A.J.). Literally. In related news: the Shit Box (via ackackack).
• The Week in Being Not Surprised: City of L.A. wants to replace Ed Ruscha’s outdoor studio with a parking lot.
• The U.S. Gummint is happy to spend bajillions on architects and engineers, but expects artists to work for free. (Via AFC.)
• Why offshore drilling won’t solve our energy problems.
• Sounds like a conceptual piece by Maurizio Cattelan: Auctioneer to sell the work of Pietro Saier, a collaborator of Warhol’s who experts say likely didn’t exist. Saier, who is quoted on the sales website as having said that he chose “not to take the limelight from Warhol,” allegedly died in the ’04 tsunami, when his body was swept away from the Sri Lankan coast.
• Italian culture minister is not a happy camper with the proposed expansion of the Uffizi in Florence, stating that architect Arata Isozaki’s contemporary design will “provoke a kind of Stendhal’s syndrome in reverse.”
• LACMA acquires 3,500 pictures, including images by Edward Steichen, Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. More here.
• Last nail in the meatpacking district’s coffin: The Whitney Museum gets its downtown plans approved by New York City’s planning commission.
• Repairing art damaged by natural disasters. Related: University of Iowa regents are exploring the idea of selling the university museum’s 1943 Pollock masterpiece Mural (for flood recovery cash flow purposes), a move the museum’s director unconditionally opposes. More here and here.
• Two lawsuits seek to establish ownership of 17 works by Martín Ramírez, the outsider artist who lived in a California state mental institution for much of his life.
• The olive loaf rug.
• Graff of the Day: Sam3 in Sicily. (Via Ekosystem.)
• Bloomberg News takes a look at how Steve Powers’ (a.k.a. Espo) Coney Island waterboard thrill ride fits into the larger Coney Island scene.
• In London: An Olympic viewing platform by the Office of Subversive Architecture.
• The first full review of Beijing’s CCTV building by OMA in the Times of London: “Its Orwellian looks and, indeed, function mean that this is no easy building to love. But you can’t deny its power.” (Via Unbeige.)
• Vintage color photos of U.S. cities. (Via Eyebeam.)
• Because nothing says “coast” like concrete: The tetrapod beaches of Japan.
• The Day in Stoner Video.
• Peanut Butter Motherfucker.
• Your moment of deconstructed sports videos.