I think Duchamp got at something vital about Western culture over the previous 400 years: that an object didn’t count as “art” because of its beauty, its subject matter or its greatness, but because of how it asked us to use it. - The New York Times
Titled “New York Real Estate and the Ruin of American Art” and published by October, Kline’s essay is a despairing portrait of the city’s art scene. It functions both as an elegy for a lost New York art world of the 2010s and as a blistering critique of all the privilege required to find success here. - ARTnews
“In a motion filed on Friday, US National Park Service lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is ‘threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the president and his family, and the president’s staff.’” - The Guardian
The former head of the Château de Versailles, Christophe Leribault arrived after Des Cars’s desperate five-month struggle to save her job came to an end. A string of management failures had been confirmed in stinging reports from various bodies and parliamentary hearings in the wake of the heist. - The Art Newspaper
The Uffizi said it had been targeted by a cyberattack on February 1, but added that nothing had been stolen and no information lost. It also denied that the hackers had obtained security maps or that employees' phones had been infiltrated. - Reuters
“Dalí prescribes this very method, deeming zinc white the color with which ‘you will achieve the most absolute whites in your picture.’ But chemically speaking, this approach causes problems.” - Artnet
“The claim, registered in a New York lawsuit filed in 2015, has long been disputed by the Nahmad family, a prominent dynasty of art dealers that wields enormous power in the international art market.” But a federal judge (finally) ruled for the claimants. - The New York Times
China has ordered a sweeping, nationwide audit of its state-run museums after a scandal at one of its top institutions revealed that national treasures had quietly slipped into the private market, according to Hong Kong newspaper South Morning China Post. - ARTnews
New York is missing out on the ideas of designers who could find surprising paths through an obstacle course of conventions, whose experience with the constraints and cultures of other continents might loosen New York’s rigid set of habits. - New York Magazine
The museums’ management acknowledged an attack earlier this year, but denied any major security breach or theft of data. The statement came after Corriere della Sera reported that hackers had infiltrated the galleries’ network, taken control of the photographic server, and sent a ransom demand to the director’s personal phone. - Reuters (Yahoo!)
The 185-acre Baps Swaminarayan Akshardham, completed in 2023 and known for its intricate carvings in white stone, has for years faced allegations of visa fraud and maltreatment of its construction workers and artisans. Now some of those workers says they’ve developed bronchitis and silicosis, with two having died. - The Guardian
It’s hard to imagine a more finely tuned machine than the Trump Presidential Library, a glass-walled Miami tower whose video renderings were released by the president’s son Eric on Monday night. The project has a balance sheet that would make a developer blush. - The Atlantic
Despite several previous conservation campaigns, a carefully executed programme of works targeting its roofing, glazing systems, and masonry envelope was necessary. - Dezeen
“How and why is this incident different from the Louvre theft, which targeted the royal jewels? How will investigations play out? Perhaps most importantly, what are the chances of recovering these priceless paintings? We put these questions to the world’s top museum security and art theft experts. Here’s what we found out.” - Artnet
