Several public museums and universities in Germany have become embroiled in criminal investigations into the widespread trafficking of Middle Eastern antiquities. - The Art Newspaper
Set to be 550-metres tall and 3,000 metres in circumference, the skyscraper would be composed of two interconnected main rings that will house residential, public, commercial and cultural spaces. - Dezeen
Jason Allen did not paint “Théâtre D'opéra Spatial,” AI software called Midjourney did. It used his prompts, but Allen did not wield a digital brush. This distinction has caused controversy on Twitter where working artists and enthusiasts accused Allen of hastening the death of creative jobs. - Vice
"Chairs have done the same job for centuries, whenever we wanted to sit. Presented like art, however, their variety is striking, from the delicate sensuality of the lyre-back to the plush comfort of a wing-back. Like most art, there's a social story of status and prestige attached." - Broad Street Review (Philadelphia)
"Unionized workers ..., in talks since October of 2020 on their first labor contract with museum management, voted Tuesday night to authorize a strike should leaders deem it necessary." The vote count was 164 to 0 with one abstention. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Ruling that it lacks jurisdiction, the federal District Court for Washington, DC accepted the motion to dismiss the suit by the German state foundation governing Berlin's museums, the defendant in a case brought by the heirs of Jewish art dealers who sold the medieval trove in 1935. - AP
Several hours after the pre-dawn Sunday attack, five children, aged 8 to 11, were caught throwing rocks at parked cars; they were arrested when found to have bicycles and other material stolen from Sculpture Space. They've been charged with burglary, larceny, criminal mischief, and possession of stolen property. - Hyperallergic
However it happened, it's clear those who stole a world-famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill from the Château Laurier planned the heist meticulously. It took more than eight months for anyone to realize the photo hanging from the wood-panelled walls of the Reading Lounge was a fake. - CBC
The Gagosian Gallery closed last year, and Pace will close its Palo Alto gallery next month. Working artists have had to leave their Bay Area studios for less expensive regions. And last month the San Francisco Art Institute, which has counted a long line of distinguished artists among its alumni and faculty over the decades, shut its doors after...
"Sculpture Space, a residency program for sculptors in Utica, New York, was ransacked and severely damaged by vandals in the early hours of Sunday, August 28. The Utica Police Department (said) that an investigation is ongoing. The motive for the attack remains unclear." - Hyperallergic
“Perhaps the city is not ready for a real dialogue about its colonial past and the condition of coloniality that continues to mark the present. That was my intention with the work, not to celebrate colonialism, as the city suggests.” - Toronto Star
Alice Eaton, who's 30, has helped restore Haddon Hall - set of parts of Princess Bride, Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley version), and three versions of Jane Eyre. "Each stone is its own size," she says, "and has to go back exactly in its own place." - BBC
"Until the end of 2017, Guantanamo detainees were allowed to take their art with them when they were released, or give it to their lawyers to take out." Then, that - randomly, it seems - ended. Why hasn't the Biden administration fixed this yet? - BBC
Sure, there's the surface - and then there's the subject. "Today, we recoil at the thought of a 41-year-old dad sketching his naked teenager just so a Russian tycoon can then ogle her body, almost like a thank-you gift from artist to patron." - The New York Times
