“Since the dig began, they've watched the Bering Sea creep closer and closer to the site. Shorelines in this part of Alaska are now more vulnerable to erosion due, in part, to decreasing sea ice and permafrost thaw.” - NPR
“I look for the colorful scenes of decay on the tunnel walls, the rusted iron beams, patterns formed in crumbling tiles and peeling paint. I’m drawn to the strange forms found in discarded bubble gum.” - The New York Times
“The paintings were among many looted from Goudstikker by the Nazi Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering in 1940 and later recovered by Allied forces who returned them to Dutch officials.” - The New York Times
Rarely does such a cohesive, poignant theme emerge from any given New York Fashion Week. But this September, a surprising number of designers showed work that seemed to yearn for a breath of fresh air, for the obliviating embrace of the wilderness and the natural world. - Washington Post
“The sponsor of the bill to save it is Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania and former chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, whose mission statement expressing support for ‘limited government’ is the very antithesis of the social welfare programs celebrated in the Cohen building’s artworks.” - The New Republic
The real game-changer is a landmark donation of over 180 works worth more than €16 million ($18.5 million) from the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, plus a loan of 180 more, worth €10 million ($11.5 million). - Artnet
AI companies, after losing copyright lawsuits over using pirated books found in digital formats, found a way forward, since the law doesn’t prohibit them from buying physical books and destroying them. In another ironic twist, they are looking only for books printed before 2022, because they want books that definitely have not been produced using AI. - ARTnews
Because of overcrowding in the main building’s galleries, the museum will acquire an additional space a few blocks away: the Ice and Automobile Palace, which has been vacant since 2007 and will undergo a €70 million ($81 million) renovation. When it opens, the new branch will display 21st-century works. - ARTnews
It is a Goliath of a building, 700 feet long with 300,000 square feet of space. In terms of massiveness, visual impact and sheer joyous bravado, it offers as much spectacle as any of his films. But it is not so much its size that amazes, but its uncanny shape. - The Wall Street Journal
Good texts take time. The field of visitor studies even recommends workshopping texts with an audience. Curators working on relentless deadlines don’t have that kind of luxury. Yet the particular genre of bad text I am thinking of, paradoxically, seems worst at the most elite levels of the industry. - Artnet
In 2023, on Putin’s personal orders, the 15th-century icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, Russia's most revered icon painter, was moved from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery and is now at the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Conservators said that, without museum-quality climate controls, the piece could be severely damaged. Well, guess what's happened. - Meduza (Moscow/Riga)
The surest way for the Smithsonian to free itself from the unwanted attentions of the current administration or any future one would be to adopt a business model that doesn’t involve government funding. - The Wall Street Journal
The overhaul, badly needed to ease overcrowding, remedy deferred maintenance, and improve security, is expected to cost well over €1 billion (US$1.2 billion). Christophe Leribault, who became the museum's director in February, went to Tokyo and Hong Kong to talk about the necessity of the project. - South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
“In a statement on behalf of the unionized staff, Local 2110 UAW said all three museums must raise their minimum pay rates, noting that average wages for their staff fall below … the minimum required for a single adult to afford to live in New York City.” - ARTnews
