“If the federal government can show up and demand a university department be shut down or restructured, then we don’t have universities in this country.” - The Hill
A wave of proposed state laws that would hold librarians criminally liable for the presence of any material in their libraries’ collections deemed “obscene” has been getting increased attention and drawing opposition. Yet it’s important to remember that such laws are (a) straight out of Project 2025 and (b) not new. - Book Riot
“As the Met’s head of provenance research, a new position created last May, … (Lucian) Simmons (has) a job to correct earlier errors, to prevent new questionable acquisitions and to ensure that the museum’s reputation for integrity and scholarship is not further damaged.” - The New York Times
Blake Gopnik: “I’m not sure that we really understood the contradictions at the heart of Albert Barnes, the fact that he could be just an incredibly smart man and a man who was emotionally, socially incredibly stupid, a man who could be incredibly generous and just absurdly vituperative.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Tate is cutting 7% of its workforce as the British arts institution seeks to address a funding deficit left over from the pandemic. … Tate, which has four galleries across London, Liverpool and Cornwall, said it had been working with staff for a number of months to achieve the reduction.” - The Guardian
The magazine parted ways with Arn, who replaced the late Peter Schjeldahl in 2023, after receiving complaints about his inappropriate behavior at the publication’s 100th birthday last month. - The New York Times
The 88-year-old host has taken a buyout offer from WAMU, the DC-based NPR outlet where she started her radio career as a volunteer producer in 1973 and, in 1979, began hosting the arts program Kaleidoscope, which became the more wide-ranging Diane Rehm Show in 1984. - The Washington Post (MSN)
“A White House statement said the order would ‘ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda’, and included quotes from politicians and right-wing media criticising the broadcaster. VOA, still primarily a radio service, … says it currently reaches hundreds of millions of people globally each week. - BBC
Looking again at how the myth of the Mona Lisa emerged, I believe that her fame is due not just to the painting’s display of artistic ingenuity – but to the troubling vampirism and gender ambiguity that 19th-century critics saw in Leonardo’s work. - The Conversation
Folk tales offer a kind of fabular impersonality, where an author’s voice is lost in a wider fiction machine or culture of storytelling. That form of multi-voiced impersonality played a big part in some of the most influential 20th-century fictions. - London Review of Books
What do we talk about when we talk about the ‘Art World’ in 2025? It definitely doesn’t describe everyone who makes art, or buys art, or goes to a gallery. ‘Art World’ suggests a degree of gatekeeping, and maybe that’s ok. - Dazed
Red-chip art comes in many guises, but certain visual patterns predominate: super-flat cartoons, a street art/graffiti aesthetic, and multi-colored chrome. A crypto component is always welcome. - Artnet
Obviously, there's no single answer as to why people seem to be struggling with cognitive skills, but one key indicator is the sharp decline in reading and the world's changing relationship to the way we consume information and media. - Futurism
"If the PRC's developers have unfettered access to data and American companies are left without fair use access, the race for AI is effectively over," the company wrote in its policy proposal. "America loses, as does the success of democratic AI." - Futurism
One order signed Friday night calls for the agencies — some of which are focused on minority business enterprises, museum and library services, and homelessness prevention — to “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” - Washington Post
