As arts funders have come under scrutiny in recent years observers in Germany have raised questions about Julia Stoschek. Some have argued that there is a contrast between the politics of her collection and the origins of the money that sustains it. - The New York Times
"The frescoes pre-date the baths themselves, and adorned a house that was part of a neighborhood destroyed to accommodate the baths, which were inaugurated in 216 AD and named after Marco Aurelio Antonio Bassiano, known as Caracalla — the son of the emperor Septimus Severus." - CNN
That declaration comes from the federal lawsuit that Yuga Labs, which created the Bored Ape Yacht Club, against artist Ryder Ripps for alleged "trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and cybersquatting." Ripps says his project "uses satire and appropriation to protest and educate people." - Reuters
Asking "What's more important? This painting? Or a future?" (as if they were mutually exclusive), members of the group Just Stop Oil glued their hands to the frame of a landscape in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Wednesday and a van Gogh at London's Courtauld Gallery on Thursday. - Artnet
The 17,000-square-foot space features “The Gallery: Mona Lisa’s Perception,” featuring six digital versions of the “Mona Lisa,” hanging in one room. At first, they appear to be replicas of the famous painting, but when you stand before them, they come alive, displaying lively LED art. - Las Vegas Weekly
Stocks of unpainted, snow-white china became a tantalising canvas for avant-garde artists keen to express their utopian ideologies and rouse enthusiasm for the new socialist era, giving this delicate, bourgeois material an unexpected, almost contradictory, second life. - BBC
Much as AI, or machine learning, has been woven into the rest of our daily lives, it's now taking a shot at resurrecting precious cultural artefacts once lost to the passage of time. - BBC
"A number of marble tiles on the floor of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was turned back into a mosque in 2020 after serving as a historical museum for decades, have reportedly been cracked by heavy machinery used to clean the building last week." - Artnet
"The collection of metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin ... that have found their way into 20 museums across Germany were mostly taken by British forces when they conquered, burned, and looted the city of Benin in 1897." - Deutsche Welle
"Aaron De Groft ... was removed from his post Tuesday night, just days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the museum and seized 25 works that had been attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat but whose authenticity has been called into question." - The New York Times
"During his tenure, Weiss steered the Met through a major restructuring of its finances, a shakeup of its leadership, and economic and moral crises ignited by the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matters movement." - ARTnews
In a brazen raid on the Tefaf art fair, one of the men was filmed smashing cases with a sledgehammer while accomplices kept visitors away. One visitor picked up a large vase in an apparent attempt to halt the robbers before quickly putting it back. - BBC
"Five permanent artworks are planned for Wadi AlFann" — a "valley of the arts," part of the $15 billion AlUla complex which will be unveiled in 2024 — "(by) James Turrell, Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer, as well as Saudi artists Manal AlDowayan and Ahmed Mater." - Artnet
"New research from the University of Pennsylvania found reductions in anxiety and depression and increases in cognitive function and empathy, among a number of other promising outcomes." - Hyperallergic
