Launched in September, the campaign urges Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to submit an official request for the return of the stone and 16 other artifacts removed from the country by illegal or unethical means. The document has already amassed more than 2,500 signatures. - Artnet
Lansbury was the winner of five Tony Awards for her starring performances on the New York stage, from “Mame” in 1966 to “Blithe Spirit” in 2009, when she was 83, a testament to her extraordinary stamina. Yet she appeared on Broadway only from time to time over a seven-decade career. - The New York Times
Ahead of Toronto’s municipal election in late October, plaques like those normally found in an art museum have sprung up across the city, in an exercise in guerrilla criticism that laments a city in decline – and skewers its mayor, John Tory, for what it describes as the policies of austerity and complacency. - The Guardian
How refreshing it was to see the Booker prize take another turn last month – putting the short in shortlist, as it were – with a record-breakingly succinct nominee: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is just 116 pages. The Spectator
The gallerist Anne Pfeffer and her husband Herbert, stand accused of concealing hundreds of works stolen from the daughters of Jacqueline Picasso and the art dealer Aimé Maeght. - The Art Newspaper
Rivka Galchen looks into the development of acoustical engineering as a craft (which goes all the way back to Chichén Itzá and Hagia Sophia) and how Christopher Blair and Paul Scarbrough of the firm Akustiks approached the challenge of a venue that had seemed acoustically cursed. - The New Yorker
"Although ballrooms were once the territory of the elite and considered off-limits for common people, in the upheaval of the 19th century, new types of dance steps were born. ... Here's how some of the most famous moves got their start — and were passed on to modern dancers." - National Geographic
The UK-wide free event, which began in March and will run until November, features 10 projects highlighting science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. But the government's "celebration of creativity" was soon dubbed the Festival of Brexit, and has since had its visitor numbers questioned. - BBC
In one game, the player is a Ukrainian tractor driver stealing Russian tanks; in another, she slaps Putin with a sunflower; in another, he shoots the free-floating heads of prominent Russians (plus Elon Musk). One game just has the player walk around Kharkiv talking with other survivors. - The Guardian
Once we start thinking of ethics as a social technology, systematicity and argument take on a different hue. It’s hard to be all that piecemeal or poetic when thinking about how to organize social institutions. We may live by our visions, but they can’t write our social policy. - Boston Review
"Rod McKuen sold millions of poetry books in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a regular on late-night TV. He released dozens of albums, wrote songs for Sinatra, and was nominated for two Oscars." (He was also an astounding liar.) How did he disappear from the culture so completely? - Slate
The emphasis has shifted to designing structures whose components can be disassembled and developing new, bio-based materials that can eventually be composted. “We should design man-made objects and products in such a way that we’re not destroying the resources.” - The New York Times
"Inis Nua Theatre Co., a Philadelphia-based company that draws its material from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, has named longtime Philly theater director Kathryn 'KC' MacMillan as artistic director. MacMillan doesn’t hesitate answering the obvious question about Inis Nua." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Pop art was just emerging and Bengston spoke its language well with his simple, aesthetically direct and repetitive motifs. His shiny, heavily lacquered surfaces also earned him associations with 'finish fetish.' But it was his flamboyant personality ... that came to define him." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
