ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

VISUAL

Immersive Shows: Hated By Critics, Loved By Audiences

Critics generally hate the shows, but, if attendance figures are anything to go by, the paying public loves them. Museums have taken notice of the excited crowds, and now, they’re beginning to try their hands at digital showmanship. - The New York Times

Memorials To Pushkin In Ukraine Are Under Threat

Pushkin has been falling rapidly in Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale invasion last February, more than 30 monuments to the poet have been dismantled. From a western European or anglophone perspective the loathing of a poet who died nearly 200 years ago can seem bewildering. - The Guardian

Saving The Crumbling Adobe Mission Churches Of New Mexico

"(In Spanish colonial days,) villagers … filled chapels with elaborate altarpieces made of local wood and varnished with pine sap. Today, threatened by dwindling congregations and fading traditions, some of their descendants are fighting to save these historic structures from literally crumbling back to the earth they were built with." - AP

NYC’s Natural History Museum Adds A Wing For The Natural World

A mega-attraction devoted to the natural world may seem an odd fit for Manhattan, one of the most human-manipulated landscapes on earth. But in another sense, these urban oases of physical spectacle make more sense than ever in our digital era, when forests and deserts are often viewed largely through windshields or computer screens. - Bloomberg

The Ancient Buildings Built To Withstand Earhquakes

The buildings stand free of any mortar or metal, which makes them more capable of shifting and flexing along with torques in the ground. This brilliance of mobility even continues underground. - Nautilus

Austria Prepares To Return Two Parthenon Marbles To Greece

"Museums in Austria and Greece are discussing the potential return to Athens of two ancient Greek sculptures, a move which could have a knock-on effect for the world's thorniest cultural heritage dispute: the fate of the British Museum's Parthenon Sculptures." - AP

Renzo Piano’s Latest Museum Building, Istanbul Modern, Is Opening

"The building boasts a footprint of 110,000 square feet, with dedicated space for temporary and permanent exhibitions, educational programs, film screenings, and a café. It's situated in a historic district on Istanbul's Karaköy waterfront, where the Bosporus Strait and Golden Horn estuary meet." - Artnet

Another Step To A Well-Deserved Pritzker Prize? Yasmeen Lari Wins The RIBA Royal Gold Medal

Her country's first female architect, Lari, now 82, gave up a career building high-profile landmarks to design simple, inexpensive structures of bamboo and mud that impoverished villagers and displaced people can build themselves for a fraction of what a prefab concrete shelter costs. - CNN

What It’s Really Like To Live In A House By Frank Lloyd Wright

"Actually living in a work of art affects how you see and feel details on a daily level." says one of the seven homeowners a reporter spoke with about how the experience of inhabiting a Wright house full-time shapes their lives. - Architectural Digest

Art World Discussion: What’s The Role Of Art In These Uncertain Times?

As artists and the public at large become ever more engaged in tackling world problems, and social media pushes everything to new levels of amplification, what should the role of the museum be, in 2023? - The New York Times

The Doll Family That Mysteriously Took Up Residence In A Mailbox

“Some people initially thought that I had planted the dolls myself, but that is definitely not the case. All I did was provide a mailbox. Somebody else decided to make it into a home for Mary and Shelley.” - Washington Post

An Advance Look At Madrid’s €162 Million Museum Of Royal Collections, Opening This Summer

"Overseen by Spain's national heritage institution, Patrimonio Nacional, the gallery's aim is to share hundreds of items drawn from the 19 royal palaces and 10 monasteries under Patrimonio Nacional's stewardship." - The Guardian

Maybe This Man, Not John James Audubon, Is The Painter Of Birds We Should Revere

"Born in 1869, (Rex) Brasher left an enormous body of paintings, almost 900 large-scale watercolors documenting American bird life and habitat, that became the source material for a monumental 12-volume compendium of hand-colored reproductions." (And he didn't defend slavery or shoot the birds before painting them.) - MSN (The Washington Post)

NYC’s New Museum Of Natural History Extension Is A Winner

New Yorkers live to grouse about new buildings. This one seems destined to be an instant heartthrob and colossal attraction. - The New York Times

South Korean Art Student Eats Banana From Maurizio Cattelan Artwork

"Noh Huyn-soo was filmed brazenly removing the banana, which was duct-taped on to a wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, unpeeling it and eating it in front of stunned onlookers before reattaching the banana skin to the wall using the same tape." - The Guardian (UK)

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