Turin is seeking to cement its place as a major stop on the international contemporary art circuit by hosting "Shit and Die" -- an exhibition that, organizers stress, is not about faeces or death.

The collection of works from some 50 artists, including Britain's Sarah Lucas, opened to the public Thursday and will run until January 11 at the city's Palazzo Cavour.

Germany kicks off celebrations Friday marking the 25th anniversary of the epochal fall of the Berlin Wall, set to culminate with rock stars and veteran freedom activists joining a millions-strong crowd.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, will lead three days of commemorations for those killed trying to flee the repressive state, leading up to a giant festival Sunday marking the joyous breach of Europe's Cold War division on November 9, 1989.

A talkshow host peering out of a man's stomach and a piece of skin peeling away from a hand to unveil tangerine segments beneath are two of the impossible visions offered by one Japanese body artist.

Hikaru Cho's brushes add a spare pair of eyes to one model and an ear to the back of someone else's hand as she works on art she says is short-lived but intended to reveal a new way to look at the human form.

A stunning 1881 masterpiece by Edouard Manet sold for $65 million at auction in New York on Wednesday, a record for a work by the French impressionist artist.

"Le Printemps," which the auction house Christie's had valued at $25-30 million, depicts a famous actress of the day and was exhibited in 1882 to critical acclaim while Manet was one of the most famous living artists.

Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brokaw are among the featured commentators for an "enhanced" e-book of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The e-book was released Tuesday by HarperCollins. It also features a 1964 radio interview with Lee, who rarely speaks to the media. The regular e-book for "To Kill a Mockingbird," Lee's only novel, came out in July. She had been one of the last major authors to withhold electronic rights.

A personal story of grief and raptors that combines memoir, biography and nature writing has won Britain's leading literary award for nonfiction.

Helen Macdonald's "H is For Hawk" was named the winner of the 20,000-pound ($32,000) Samuel Johnson Prize at a ceremony in London on Tuesday.

A rare piece of artwork painted by Vincent van Gogh weeks before his death sold for $61.8 million Tuesday at a sale kicking off New York City's fall auctions of impressionist and modern art.

The 1890 painting, "Still Life, Vase With Daisies and Poppies," had expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million at Sotheby's evening sale in Manhattan.

To download or not to download, perchance to stream... that is the question a new digital project hopes to solve by making performances of Shakespeare's plays available to a global audience on demand for the first time.

London's Globe Theater has made over 50 productions available to download as full-length high-definition films on its dedicated online platform, in what it said Tuesday was a world first.

Japanese sushi maestro Jiro Ono, whose creations were recently enjoyed by U.S. President Barack Obama and are reputedly the best in the world, warned Tuesday of a sea change in ingredients due to overfishing.

"I can't imagine at all that sushi in the future will be made of the same materials we use today," the 89-year-old master told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

The United Arab Emirates contains the world's tallest building, an artificial indoor ski slope and man-made islands shaped like the world. Dubai's fleet of police cars includes a $2.5 million Bugatti Veyron and a $500,000 Lamborghini Aventador.

Look past the blinding glitz, though, and you discover a gulf separating the elite and their riches from most Emiratis. Yet in contrast to much of the world, a note of complaint is seldom heard here, and the reason is simple: Most Emiratis live lives of comfort that they owe to a bounty of perks and benefits from the government.