– Hauser & Wirth Plans Art Farm: The mega-gallery, which already has outposts in London, New York, and Zurich, plans to open a sprawling new venue in Bruton, Somerset in 2014, in the UK. Always a fan of unorthodox spaces, Hauser & Wirth will convert an old farm dating from 1760 on the edges of the rural town into a full-blown art campus, featuring five gallery spaces, an education center, accommodations for artists in residence, a restaurant, and a bookshop. It will be designed by landscape gardner Piet Oudolf and Paris-based architects Laplace & Co. [Country Calling]

– Christie's Helps Dealers Post-Sandy: In light of the widespread devastation wreaked by Hurricane Sandy in gallery-filled districts like Chelsea and the Lower East Side, Christie's has offered washed-out dealers the use of its Rockefeller Center offices for work space, and its warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn, for safe and dry storage space. "To all Chelsea galleries," the auction house posted on Facebook, "we are arranging space at Christie's for gallerists to use their laptops and charge their phones, and may be able to assist galleries with storage space." [Gallerist]

– MCA Chicago Gets $10-Million Gift: Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art will receive a major donation from longtime benefactor and real estate tycoon Sam Zell and his wife Helen to the tune of $10 million, through the Zell Family Foundation. Part of the donation will establish the Zell Fund for Artistic Excellence, which will back innumerable museum programs; another portion will be used to help pay off debt the museum took on when it constructed its new building in 1996. "This is an open gift that will go toward what we call our Vision initiatives," said MCA Chicago director Madeleine Grynsztejn. "It will help underwrite programs such as our outdoor summer plaza series, exhibitions and artist residency programs." [NYT]

– Island Fight Affects Japanese Art Loans to China: An ongoing dispute between the governments of China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands — which sit between both nations in the Pacific — resulted in the removal of artworks loaned by Nagano City's Kitano Museum of Art from the China Art Palace's inaugural exhibition "Congratulations From the World." It's unclear whether the Chinese or Japanese removed the works. The new museum successfully presented loans from the British Museum, Whitney Museum, Mexico City's Museo Nacional de San Carlos, and Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. [TAN]

– Tourists Menace Sistine Chapel Frescoes: Yesterday marked the 500th anniversary of Pope Julius II's inaugural evening vespers service beneath Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes, which the Renaissance master spent some four years painting on the chapel's ceiling. Now, however, the tourist throngs churning through the site are threatening the art. "The church needs money for its various activities, but these monstrous conditions are impossible," Italian author and critic Pietro Citati wrote in an open letter. Noting that visiting tourists often behave like "drunken herds," this makes "any form of contemplation was impossible... in the universal confusion." [AFP]

– Former Owner's Grandson Claims Monet Was Sold to Escape Nazis: Juan Carlos Emden, the Chilean grandson of Max Emden, is claiming that he is the rightful owner of Claude Monet's "Fields of Poppies at Vétheuil," which now belongs to Zurich's Bührle Foundation. The painting, estimated to be worth $26.8 million, was purchased by the elder Emden's father in the late 1920s for $32,160. After he died in 1940, Max Edman sold it to Emil Bührle for a mere $37,500 as he fled the Nazis. [AFP]

– Government Advocates for Singapore as Art Hub: The Singaporean government is playing a large role in promoting its nation as an art hub — and so far, it seems to be working. This fall, the government unveiled the Gillman Barracks, a cluster of contemporary art galleries spread over several former military barracks. Next year, Pearl Lam Galleries of Hong Kong and Kaikai Kiki Gallery, an offshoot of Takashi Murakami's art production company, are due to open there. Dealers say the reasonable import tax rates in Singapore helped to lure them away from alternative spaces in China. [NYT]

– PST Generates $111.5 Million in Visitor Spending: The Getty's $12-million investment in Pacific Standard Time — the sprawling collaboration among Southern California museums to examine the region's postwar art history — generated almost 10 times that amount in spending by tourists and local residents, according to a new report by the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation. Visitors spent a total of $111.5 million including lodging, food, and transportation. Though the numbers sound hefty, experts note that they don't come with context: There is no comparable data for economic activity generated by California museums before PST. [LAT]

– Tate Amps Up International Programming: England's Tate Museum has unveiled a series of recent acquisitions and partnerships that will help extend its geographical reach beyond Europe and North America. In addition to an ambitious curatorial partnership in Brazil and a museum training program to support the National Museum of Oman, the Tate has made several landmark purchases recently, including "Museum of Contemporary African Art 1997-2002," by Beninese artist Meschac Gaba. The institution will also hold the first major British exhibition of Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi next summer. [Standard]