The National Gallery of Canada just posted 110 of its works of art online to determine provenance (the history of the ownership of the paintings). There's been considerable speculation about whether or not part of Canada's collection is the result of Nazi looting during World War II.

The National Gallery established the Provenance Research Project, to try and get to the bottom of the mystery. However, Pierre Theberge, director of the National Gallery, is quick to point out that establishing provenance is tricky business and that the Nazi implication is merely speculation at this point. "I would like to emphasize that the list is not a list of "suspect" pictures. Rather the inclusion of a painting on this list indicates only that more information is required to complete our knowledge of its ownership during the Nazi era. The works published in this section of our Web site have gaps in, or no provenance for, the period from 1933 to 1945. Such gaps in provenance, in and of themselves, are by no means proof that these works were looted during the Holocaust or World War II."

BRUEGHEL, Jan, II (1601-1678) Flemish Formerly attributed to Jan I Brueghel the Elder Bouquet of Flowers in a Faience Vase Oil on wood, 73 x 54.6 cm Signed and dated l.r.: BRVEGHEL 16[..] Purchased in 1963 No.15049 source: www.national.gallery.ca

The Provenance Research Project also claims that none of the paintings are masterpieces, however there a quite a few notable names: Rodin, Bosch, Gauguin, Gainsborough, Klimt, Matisse, plus a Picasso. There's been quite a bit of traffic at the site. In fact I was refused admission several times. Could the increase in volume be due to the release of the list? Or perhaps it's the National Gallery's addition of Cybermuse, an impressive search engine which allows you a virtual connection with the National's complete collection? I dunno. So go forth and surf culture kids, and let me know what you think of the Provenance Research Project.

Kinky Theatre: There's a mighty interesting show running this week at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver. Still Life with Cello is "a theatre-dance performance about a jealous woman who kills her lover and fashions a cello from the tree that grows from his body." Yikes! It kind of sounds like something from The Tempest. Remember how Caliban's mother Sycorax, cast a spell and locked Ariel up in a tree? I wonder who's going to let the dead lover's spirit free? If you find out, this inquiring forum manager wants to know.

Fine Tuning: Tonight on Lost Worlds - Episode 4, host David Suzuki takes a trek through the Andes, "the world's longest mountain chain, which stretches from the tropics to sub-Antarctica." Visit a tropical cloud forest one moment and then ponder the massive Patagonian Ice Sheet the next. Nature of Things, 9 p.m. on CBC TV