"Mario's Gonna get his F**cking Head Kicked In" | December 2001 | View Large PDF (3 MB)
An in-depth piece for Arena on the making of "Hooligans: Storm Over Europe," a real-time-strategy game from
the boys at DarkXabre in Amsterdam. Delves deep into how hard games get tweaked to create a seamless gaming
experience. And posits the theory that gameplay-vs-realism is the essential tension of game development.

"Wing and a Prayer" | Summer 2006 | View PDF
Working with magicians, Hollywood special-effects men, children, televangelists and psychics, German
video artist Christian Jankowski has risen to artstardom by letting chance play a crucial role in his pieces.

"City Lights" | March 2005 | View PDF
Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa's obsession with cities and architecture has made him a curatorial darling
as the artworld rediscovered the magic of cities. Too bad the Office of Homeland Security doesn't feel
the same admiration; they refused Garaicoa a visa for his own LA MOCA retrospective.

"The Giacometti Legacy: A Struggle for Control" | October 2005 | View PDF
A tortuous and lengthy tale, tracing the incredible feuding that has surrounded the legacy of the Swiss
sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti - including the various lawsuits, personality conflicts and political
intrigues that have soaked up at least $12 million worth of his estate..

"Modigliani: The Experts Battle" | January 2004 | View PDF (1 M)
With support from the House of Wildenstein, a Parisian art historian struggles to put out a new catalogue
raisonné for Amedeo Modigliani, le peintre maudit. Since each authenticated or denied work means
millions of dollars on the line, lawsuits and controversy naturally erupt.

"When human beings are the canvas" | June 2003 | View PDF
My profile of Santiago Sierra, a Madrid-born Mexico City artist whose work deploys a Minimalist aesthetic to
reveal the uglier aspects of "the remunerated system," i.e. capitalism. His selection for the Spanish pavilion
at the 2003 Venice biennial was hotly debated in Spain, where he does not even have a gallery.

"Negative Charges" | February 2005 | View PDF (2.5 M)
An investigative piece detailing the controversy and lawsuit surrounding 921 negatives from the estate of
Mali's Seydou Keita, commonly considered Africa's greatest photographer. Amid charges and counter-charges
of forged documents, exploited artists and other chicaneries, truth at times seemed a mirage.

"Illusions of Youth" | June 2004 | View PDF (1.6 M)
A gimlet-eyed look at the current artworld craze for very young artists. Fueled by speculation, the desire
to claim prescience and the broader cultural of obsession with youth, this trend has upended the market,
causing the prices for unproven phenoms to far outstrip their established peers. Remorse will surely follow.

"Busted!" | March 2004 | View PDF | View text-only PDF
Reading the newspapers, it seems there's a raging epidemic of heists hitting our cultural institutions.
But what's really happening? After taking stock with everyone from Interpol to the FBI, I debunk six myths
of museum theft, including "The Thieves Come Out at Night' and "Better Security Means Fewer Thefts."

"The Devil and the art detective" | July 2003 | View PDF
An extensive profile of Clemens Toussaint, who ranks among the most controversial men in the European
artworld - in part, because he's a tempestuous maverick in a milieu of complicit discretion. But also because
art restitution is a minefield of ethical dilemmas and conflicting realities. Spanning from 1930s Germany to
present-day Monte Carlo, this article easily ranks among my best pieces.

"A Man in Full"  | May 2002 | View PDF
A feature-length obituary of Dr. Gustav Rau, the bush doctor whose art collection, estimated at $250 million,
became the subject of simultaneous lawsuits in Monaco, Liechtenstein, Germany and Switzerland.

"Days of Wine and Poses" | June 2001 | View Large PDF (3.4 MB) | View text-only PDF
An analysis of the effects unleashed by the surging number of contemporary-art biennials, with a focus on
the oldest and most important one - la Biennale di Venezia - which plays a kingmaker role in the artmarket.
Every second June, the mantra goes, "See it Venice, buy it in Basel."

"Double Spaced " | February 2005 | View Article
In which I make the case that transparency will inevitably become a much bigger issue in the
the art market, as a wave of lawsuits and legislation erodes the trade's cherished opacity.

"The art trade is the last major unregulated market" | June 2005 | View Article
In which I make the case that transparency will inevitably become a much bigger issue in the
the art market, as a wave of lawsuits and legislation erodes the trade's cherished opacity.

"Do Art Critics Still Matter?" | April 2005 | View Article
Easily my most widely discussed piece in years, maybe ever, this hard look at the
sorry position of today's critics was rapidly translated into French, German and Norwegian.

"Do Contemporary Dealers Still Need Galleries?"| June 2004 | View Article
Yes. But art fairs, biennials and the Internet have redefined the function of the gallery's physical space. Best quote
goes to Choire Sicha: "We're all running virtual galleries these days. But it still helps to have an actual gallery. It gives
collectors confidence, even if many are too lazy to actually to bother seeing your shows."

"Too many galleries, not enough art" | February 2004 | View PDF
In an artworld where international representation is less a consecration than a first step
toward potential artstardom, young artists often show worldwide - risking burnout, conflict
between galleries and collapsing their own market.

"Sam's Place" | June 2006 | View PDF
For this story, I tried to keep up with Art Basel director Sam Keller as he ran around New York during the Armory Show and
Berlin during the biennial - a fun but highly fatiguing experience, and a window into the highly personal side of his job.

"Tough Decisions " | August 2005 | View PDF
A profile of Hamburg collector Harald Falckenberg, a man who stands out in the artworld for the depth
of his intellect, the singularity of his opinions and the impolitic way both those traits are manifested.

"Treasure Island" | November 2004 | View PDF
The first major article ever devoted to Uli Sigg's collection of Chinese contemporary art, which he assembled
while being among first Western businessman active post-Revolution, and then Swiss Ambassador
to China. (The PDF does little justice to Ed Reeve's great photos. Will try to fix this ASAP.)

"Superstores" | April 2004 | View PDF (1.8 M)
My tour of all the odd places where art ends up hidden far from the public eye, most notably the freeports
of Switzerland, which function as the artworld equivalent of the country's numbered bank accounts,
hiding treasures both great and infamous in mysterious environs.

"A Place in the Sun" | December 2003 | View PDF (2.4 M)
Ostensibly a preview of Art Basel Miami Beach 2003, this article delves heavily into the role of art
fairs within the market, examining the competition between them, the effect of ABMB on the US
market and the future of fairs within the globalizing artworld.

"The Seven Golden Rules of the Favor Economy" | August 1999 | View archived Web Pages
A feature describing the workings of Chicago's power structure. Rules include: "Never demand repayment for a favor,"
and "Always try to offer a favor before it is requested." One reader suggested it should be assigned reading
for all Chicago schoolchildren. Others called the piece - and its subjects - an outrage.

"Losing Ramiro" | January 1999 | View Gargantuan PDF (5.4 MB) | View text-only PDF
One of my personal favorites: a feature on acclaimed poet Luis Rodriguez, an ex-Los Angeles gang
member, and his son, Ramiro, currently in prison for the attempted murder of a police officer. Ultimately,
the story proved to be more about fatherhood and its inherent traps than about "street life."

"Avalanche!"  | November 2002 | View Large PDF (1.1 MB) | View text-only PDF
As a snowboarder living in Zurich, an article on the relationship between the Swiss and their
avalanches seemed inevitable. A story filled with death, dynamite and detachment.

"Money for Old Soap"  | July 2002 | View PDF (1.6 MB) | View text-only PDF
Parses the odd rules that govern the art market, including "Uniqueness is Overrated," "Only Little People
Pay Retail," and "You're not Really Buying Objects." The piece also delves into the range war between
auction houses and art dealers. If you ever felt befuddled by a gallery price list, read this piece.

"They fought the law and the law won" | March 2001 | View Large PDF (4.3 MB) | View text-only PDF
A dual profile of two Internet visionaries who briefly revolutionized Swedish society: Jonas
Birgersson, AKA "Broadband Jesus," and Johan Stael von Holstein, who made the mistake
of trying to be Gordon Gekko in an essentially socialist state.

"Glocalization: Easier Said Than Done" | October 9, 2000 | View archived Web Pages
A business feature on London-based lastminute.com's travails in going pan-European. They faced
almost every expansion problem imaginable, making it a textbook case. Then again, they're still standing
and the Industry Standard's six feet under, with former editors fighting publicly over the autopsy results.

"Changing the Game" | July 1998 | View Archived Webpage
In which the office-furniture behemoth Steelcase and design gurus IDEO team up, hoping to redefine the American office.

"Company Town" | February 1998 | View Archived Webpage
A feature on Canadian telecom giant Nortel's aggressive embrace of the corporation-as-city metaphor
in a former factory. One anonymous employee called the project "a skyscraper laid on its side."

"The Hunt for Red Collector" August 21, 2006 | Linked here
When an unknown buyer won Picasso's "Dora Maar au Chat" for $95 million at Sothebys, it ignited an artworld
parlor game. Trying to track down the mystery man, I talked to sources on four continents and then laid out my
quest as a whodunit with Russian overtones.

"Five Theories On Why the Art Market Can't Crash. And why it will anyway."
April 3, 2006 | Linked here
In an unprecedented time, many art-market veterans are having deja vu, recalling the 80s boom and the early
90s cataclysm that hit Soho. Yet other insiders offer a host of explanations why it's different this time.
Who's right? And if it's the veterans, then what would be the contours of a correction/contraction/crash?

"A Come-From-Behind Plan to Land the Olympics: Inside the hidden game to get the Games."
February 21, 2005 | Linked here
In which I return to the realpolitik analysis honed in my Chicago City Hall days, albeit applied to the
competition over hosting 2012's Summer Olympics - a campaign waged worldwide under an
ever-evolving set of rules, at a cost easily topping $2 million per voter.

"Swiss Mix"  | February 2001 | View text-only PDF
My take on the oddly miscegenated spaces of Zurich, such as the Seebad Enge sauna/nightclub, the
Tampopo art-deco furniture store/Thai takeaway, and the Time Tunnel hair salon/Seventies Design mecca.

"The Best Medicine" | April 17, 2000 | View Large PDF (3.26 MB) | View text-only PDF
A profile of Landon Donovan, the soccer phenom projected to be America's first great striker. At the time that I wrote this,
he was playing with the regional team of Bayer Leverkusen, a premier German club. Now he's back in the States,
starring in Major League Soccer - and came two fingertips from scoring against Germany in the World Cup 2002 quarterfinals.

"Avalanche!" | March, 2003 | View Scanned Pages | View Archived Webpages
My feature on Switzerland's SLF center for avalanche research in Davos, a global leader where the projects range
from studying snow crystals to setting off massive avalanches. Best Quote: "When I worked on the Apollo Space program,
I thought rocket science was the hardest form of physics, but snow science is even harder."