The Ukrainian port city of Odesa sits atop a labyrinth of catacombs—technically, limestone quarries—which constitute perhaps the world’s largest network of urban tunnels, extending ten stories deep and tracing some fifteen hundred miles beneath the streets. - The New Yorker
The paintings and sculptures, valued at 42 million euros ($46 million), had been on loan from Russian museums to institutions in Italy and Japan. They were seized last weekend in Finland on suspicion of contravening European Union sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. - The New York Times
Looking at the superyachts in the Grand Canal, that the Biennale is a prism of wealth inequality that we’re effectively sanctioning. We go anyway, get numb, tell ourselves it’s important to meet people and grasp the current narrative. But you can’t really grasp it on any kind of granular level. - ArtReview
Policies that favor wasteful new construction, and do little to encourage environmentally minded retrofits, have hindered the building industry’s ability to curb its footprint. - Fast Company
"When people ask Harout Bastajian how a Christian is creating the decorative program of a mosque, he likes to answer, 'God works in mysterious ways, brings us all together to decorate his house of worship.'" - Hyperallergic
The fact that Ukraine feels more culturally familiar to many people watching these events closely has had a profound impact not just on the kinds of images that are circulating, but also how they circulate. - Washington Post
In January, the Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, also known as Villa Aurora, was put up for auction with a floor price of €471 million ($546 million), and nobody bid. This week the mansion went back on the block at a 20% discount (€376 million/$410 million). Still no buyer. - Artnet
After two years' closure, and with both storage/maintenance of the collection and staff salaries desperately underfunded, five of the museum's 13 display rooms have reopened. Employees and volunteers are working to get the impressive collection (e.g., Picasso, Chagall, Dalí, Calder, Botero) back in shape. - The New York Times
Is an African museum, designed by an African architect, capable of undoing this level of institutional violence? Can it go beyond a restaging of the artefacts’ abduction? If not for an imperialist agenda, what is the role of the museum in a post-colonial world? - Hyperallergic
Moving away from “literal sensibilities” for logo choices, Opara tells It’s Nice That, the team went for a more symbolic direction, developing a morphing “M” which fluctuates in shape, texture and colour to reflect the transformative basis of Mellon’s work. - It's Nice That
"On the auction block was a paper receipt for a 'Zone de sensibilité picturale immatérielle,' or a 'zone of empty space,' a 1959 conceptual creation. … Klein sold several such invisible 'zones' — each instantiated by a receipt — between 1959 and his death in 1962, accepting only pure gold as payment." - Artnet
The artworks, which belong to prominent Russian museums including the Hermitage and Tretyakov, were being returned from exhibitions in Italy and Japan. Finnish customs says it does not dispute Russia's ownership of the art and will keep it only for the duration of the sanctions. - Artnet
What if we put video game designers inside the gallery context? How could they reimagine the world of gaming for a more collective audience and with that kind of spatial format for their work? - ArtsHub
The Jeu de Paume room was built in 1686 for Louis XIV to play the game of the same name, an ancestor of modern tennis. At the start of the French Revolution in 1789, that room — now restored and reopened — was where the National Constituent Assembly was created. - Yahoo! (AFP)
Once a leader in Russian cultural diplomacy overseas, the Hermitage is now isolated by the cultural boycotts of Russia that have multiplied through the western world since the war began. - The Art Newspaper
